3,  rz.iA- 


^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^ 


Presented    by    Et,  F.  L.PaHon. 


Xtbe  fiDijeter?  of  Xife 


/  f       MAR  12 

XLhc  jffl^^ster^  of  Xite.-__i. 


A  STUDY  OF  REVELATION  IN  THE  LIGHT 
OF  SCIENCE 


,  feic 


BY      • 

HARRY  E.  klCHARDS,  A.  M.,  M.  D. 


NEW  YORK 

DODD,  MEAD  AND  COMPANY 

1898 


Copyright,  1898, 
By  Harry  E.  Richards 


THE  FRIEDENWALD  COMPANY 

BALTIMORE,  MD.,   U.  S.  A. 


CONTENTS 


Chapter  Page 

I.     Life, lo 

11.     Kingdoms  of  Life,         .        .  -           22 

IIL     The  Spiritual  Kingdom,           -  -       39 

IV.     Entering  the  Kingdom,       -  -           50 

V.     Immortality,             -        -        -  -       60 

VI.     The  Sin  against  Life,            -  -          loi 

VII.     The  Way  OF  Life,     -         -         -  -     113 

VIII.     God's  Sovereignty  and  Man's 

Agency,         -        -        -        -  -     128 

IX.     Cause,            -----  144 

X.     Free  Will,        -         -         -         -  -     i59 

XI.     The  Revelation  of  Life,      -  -          180 

XII.     The  Necessity  of  Faith,           -  -     214 

XIII.  The  Mystery  of  Revelation,  -         231 

XIV.  The  Reasonableness  of  the 

Revelation  of  Life,    -        -  -     267 


INTRODUCTION 

The  preservation  and  enjoyment  of  life  con- 
stitute the  sum-total  of  human  activity.  Upon 
analysis,  every  occupation  of  mankind  and 
every  device  of  the  most  complex  civilization 
is  found  to  be  concerned  directly  with  these 
things,  and  ultimately  to  have  no  other  object. 
It  is  not  a  matter  of  surprise,  therefore,  to 
find  that  such  matters  as  the  origin,  nature 
and  duration  of  life  are  of  universal  and  tran- 
scendent interest.  Neither  is  it  strange  that 
religion,  in  spite  of  the  scepticism  of  a  few 
philosophers,  should  possess  an  irresistible 
attraction  for  most  people,  since  it  treats  of  a 
supernatural  realm  whose  activities  they 
believe  directly  afifect  the  continuance  and 
enjoyment  of  their  own  lives.  It  is  also,  for 
this  reason,  easy  to  understand  why  Chris- 
tianity has  steadily  prevailed  over  all  other 
religions;  since,  according  to  its  Founder,  it 
plainly  declares  its  purpose  to  be  that  man 
may  have  life  and  have  it  more  abundantly, 
and  that,  too,  forever.  The  mere  fact  that  it 
even  makes  such  a  claim  is  enough  to  com- 
mand for  it  the  serious   attention   of  beings 


8  INTRODUCTION 

whose  every  possession  depends  upon  the 
possession  of  hfe.  Since,  then,  the  one  thing 
desired  by  each  individual  is  Hfe,  and  since  the 
Christian  revelation  professes  to  point  the  way 
to  the  satisfaction  of  this  desire,  an  investiga- 
tion of  the  thing  sought  and  offered  becomes 
of  the  greatest  importance,  in  order  that  it 
may  be  decided  whether  the  offered  means  be 
even  seemingly  adequate  to  the  attainment  of 
the  desired  end. 

In  the  argument  concerning  life  which  is  to 
follow  it  is  taken  for  granted  that  there  is  a 
God;  that  he  is  the  Creator  of  the  visible  uni- 
verse; that  he  has  made  a  revelation  to  man- 
kind as  set  forth  in  the  Christian  Scriptures. 
As  a  corollary  tO'  these  postulates  it  follows 
that  science,  which  is  merely  the  systema- 
tized knowledge  of  the  things  created,  cannot 
be  in  contradiction  to  the  revelation  of  the 
Creator,  and  that  if  science  and  revelation 
seem  to  be  in  contradiction,  it  arises  from  the 
misinterpretation  either  of  nature  or  of  revela- 
tion, or  both.  It  further  follows,  from  the 
assumed  identity  of  the  Creator  and  the  Re- 
vealer,  that  an  apparent  harmony  of  the  teach- 
ings of  science  and  the  interpretation  of  the 
revelation  goes  to  show  that  both  the  teaching 
and  the  interpretation  are  true.  And  finally, 
if  it  be  found  upon  investigation  that  science 


INTRODUCTION  9 

and  the  Scriptures  are  harmonious  in  their 
teachings  concerning  the  origin,  nature  and 
continuance  of  Hfe,  it  will  afford  strong  evi- 
dence of  the  truth  of  the  postulates  with  which 
the  argument  is  begun.  This,  however,  is  but 
an  incidental  result,  since  what  follows  is  pri- 
marily addressed  to  those  who  are  already 
convinced  of  the  truth  of  these  very  postulates. 
On  account  of  the  point  of  view  from  which 
the  argument  is  made,  it  will  be  noted  that 
nature  and  the  Bible  are  both  cited  as  authori- 
ties; there  is  no  attempt  made  to  prove  the 
Scriptures  from  science,  or  to  harmonize  sci- 
ence and  religion,  but  to  study  the  Bible  in 
the  increased  light  of  modern  discovery. 
Science  and  religion  are  considered,  not  as 
antagonistic,  but  complementary. 


CHAPTER  I 


LIFE 


What  is  life?  or  rather  how  does  it  manifest 
itself?  for  it  is  much  to  be  feared  that  life  will 
never  be  satisfactorily  defined.  Indeed  this 
may  be  said  about  all  the  forces  of  the  uni- 
verse. What  they  are  will  doubtless  always 
remain  among  the  inscrutable  things  of  the 
infinite  unknown.  Man  knows  that  light  casts 
shadows,  enables  the  eye  to  perceive  objects, 
develops  the  green  in  plants,  produces  vigor 
in  animals,  affects  the  photographic  plate,  and 
travels  through  space;  it  takes  no  philosopher 
to  say  whether  it  is  light  or  dark,  but  not  even 
the  greatest  philosopher  is  able  to  say  with 
certainty  what  light  is.  And  so  with  heat, 
electricity  and  other  forces  of  nature. 
Something  is  known  of  their  effects,  but  little 
of  them.  They  are  all  like  the  wind,  of  which 
we  hear  the  sound,  but  whence  it  cometh  or 
whither  it  goeth  we  know  not.  We  know 
what  forces  do,  but  not  what  they  are. 

Life,  like  electricity,  is  detected  by  its  mani- 
festations, it  is  known  by  what  it  does.     The 


LIFE  II 

best  definition  of  life  is  probably  that  of  Mr. 
Spencer,  which  is  that  "  Life  is  the  definite 
combination  of  heterogeneous  changes,  both 
simultaneous  and  successive,  in  correspond- 
ence with  external  co-existences  and  sequen- 
ces," or  "  the  continuous  adjustment  of 
internal  relations  to  external  relations."  But 
after  all,  this  is  merely  a  beautiful  and  accurate 
definition  of  how  life  manifests  itself;  indeed, 
no  more  is  claimed  for  it  by  its  author.  But 
inasmuch  as  all  we  know  of  anything  is  its 
characteristics,  we  know  as  much  of  life,  in 
knowing  how  it  manifests  itself,  as  we  know 
of  anything.  Life,  then,  in  common  language, 
may  be  defined  as  correspondence  with  envi- 
ronment. It  manifests  itself  by  the  capacity 
of  the  organism  in  which  it  resides,  of  con- 
tinuous self-adjustment  to  changing  circum- 
stances— by  the  organism  responding  to  a 
change  in  its  surroundings  by  a  corresponding 
change  in  itself. 

Since  life  depends  upon  the  capability  of  the 
organism  of  making  responsive  changes  to 
the  changes  occurring  in  its  environment,  life 
becomes  more  full  and  rich  as  the  correspond- 
ence between  the  organism  and  the  environ- 
ment increases.  The  environment,  for  in- 
stance, of  the  oyster  exhibits  few  changes,  and 
the  responsive  changes  in  the  oyster  are  like- 


12  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

wise  few  and  its  grade  of  life  is  very  low.  The 
correspondence  between  the  fish  and  its  envi- 
ronment is  greater,  and  all  recognize  in  it  a 
higher  degree  of  life.  And  so  the  different 
creatures  ascend  the  scale  of  life  through  the 
fishes,  the  reptiles,  the  mammals  (the  animal 
in  the  popular  sense),  to  man,  whose  grade  of 
life  is  recognized  as  the  highest.  In  man  we 
see  exemplified  the  greatest  number  and 
variety  of  internal  changes  corresponding 
with  external  changes;  the  numerous  compli- 
cated and  varied  changes  of  his  environment 
are  met  in  him  by  corresponding  internal 
changes  of  equal  number,  complexity  and 
variety.  This  principle,  that  life  varies  in  pro- 
portion to  the  number  and  variety  of  corres- 
pondences between  external  and  internal 
changes,  is  popularly  recognized  by  the  oft- 
repeated  saying,  that  a  man  has  been  "  exist- 
ing "  and  not  "  living "  while  he  has  been 
compelled  to  remain  in  the  midst  of  non-vary- 
ing conditions.  It  is  even  more  fully  recog- 
nized in  the  common  remark  that  certain 
people  do  not  "  live,"  they  "  vegetate " — 
vegetation  being  recognized  as  a  low  order  of 
life.  The  philosopher,  as  well  as  the  common 
people,  presents  the  same  idea,  though 
clothed  in  other  and  perhaps  more  accurate 
language.     Herbert    Spencer    says  :     ''  It    is 


LIFE 


13 


manifest  a  priori,  that  since  changes  in  the 
physical  state  of  the  environment,  as  also  those 
mechanical  actions  and  those  variations  of 
available  food  which  occur  in  it,  are  liable  to 
stop  the  processes  going  on  in  the  organism; 
and  since  the  adaptive  changes  in  the  organ- 
ism have  the  effect  to  directly  or  indirectly 
counterbalance  these  changes  in  the  environ- 
ment; it  follows  the  life  of  the  organism  will 
be  short  or  long,  low  or  high,  according  to 
the  extent  to  which  changes  in  the  environ- 
ment are  met  by  corresponding  changes  in  the 
organism.  Allowing  the  margin  for  pertur- 
bations, the  life  will  continue  only  while  the 
correspondence  continues;  the  completeness 
of  the  life  will  be  proportionate  to  the  com- 
pleteness of  the  correspondence;  and  the  life 
will  be  perfect  only  when  the  correspondence 
is  perfect." 

This  definition  brings  forward  two  principal 
ideas:  the  first,  that  the  quality  of  life  depends 
upon  an  ever-changing  variety  of  circum- 
stances surrounding  the  living  being,  coupled 
with  the  capacity  of  that  living  being  to  meet 
the  changes  going  on  about  it  with  corre- 
sponding changes  within  itself:  stagnation  in 
one's  surroundings  brings  stagnation  to  his 
life.  The  second  idea  presented  is  that  death 
comes  from  a  failure  in  the  living  being  or 


14  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

organism  to  meet  an  external  change  by  an 
internal  change.  For  example,  the  frost 
brings  to  an  end  the  life  of  the  annual  flower- 
ing plant  because  it  makes  no  change  within 
itself  to  meet  the  change  in  its  surroundings. 
The  water  in  its  stem,  which  contributed  to 
and  rendered  possible  its  life  during  the  sum- 
mer, freezes  and  destroys  that  life  the  first 
cold  night  of  autumn.  The  elm,  the  oak  and 
the  other  forest  trees,  on  the  contrary,  with  the 
approach  of  the  cold  send  down  the  watery 
sap  from  twig  and  branch,  thus  making 
changes  within  themselves  to  counterbalance 
the  change  in  their  circumstances.  Were  it 
not  for  this,  the  life  of  the  tree  would  be  de- 
stroyed by  the  freezing  of  the  excess  of  water 
within  it.  When  the  fish  is  left  behind  by  the 
retiring  tide  and  exposed  to  the  air,  it  dies 
because  it  is  unable  to  make  a  sufficient 
change  within  itself  to  meet  the  changes  of  its 
circumstances.  A  crab,  on  the  contrary,  is 
able  to  adjust  itself  to  this  same  change  of 
circumstances  and  continues  to  live.  Animals 
from  tropical  climates  almost  invariably  suc- 
cumb when  removed  to  northern  latitudes, 
and  many  animals  from  temperate  climates 
cannot  live  long  in  the  tropics.  Man,  on  the 
contrary,  is  able  to  meet  almost  all  changes  of 
climate  which  earth  furnishes,  and  thus  con- 


LIFE  15 

tinues  to  live  and  thrive  all  over  the  earth. 
The  average  life  is  longer  among  the  civilized 
than  among  the  savage  peoples,  because  civi- 
lized man  has  learned  to  accommodate  himself 
to  the  changes  in  his  environment.  He  has 
learned  to  protect  himself  from  the  dangers 
of  heat  and  cold,  dampness  and  darkness,  and 
the  thousand  and  one  changes  in  his  environ- 
ment which  would  destroy  his  life  unless  met 
by  corresponding  changes  in  his  own  activi- 
ties. Could  man  therefore  continue  forever 
to  meet  all  the  changes  of  his  environment, 
with  counterbalancing  changes  within  himself, 
he  would  live  forever. 

It  follows  from  these  principles,  that  the 
greater  the  extent  and  variety  of  the  environ- 
ment with  which  an  organism  corresponds  or 
is  capable  of  corresponding,  the  greater  the 
change  necessnry  to  destroy  it.  For  exam- 
ple, young  children  yet  unable  to  walk  or  talk, 
succumb  to  changes  in  their  surroundings 
which  to  the  full  grown  man  would  scarcely 
be  thought  worthy  of  notice,  because  in  the 
one  case  the  change  relative  to  the  power  of 
correspondence  is  very  great  and  in  the  other 
very  small.  It  is  because  of  their  extensive 
environment  and  vast  power  of  adaptation 
that  of  all  creatures  men  are  the  hardest  to 
kill.     It  might  be  thought  that  the  horse,  on 


i6  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

account  of  its  greater  strength,  would  have 
greater  power  of  endurance  than  man,  but 
the  fact  is  found  to  be  the  contrary.  The 
change  under  adverse  circumstances  which 
both  horse  and  man  endure,  in  armies  for  ex- 
ample, may  be  exactly  the  same,  but  in  propor- 
tion to  the  total  amount  of  changes  in  their 
circumstances  which  each  is  able  to  meet  by 
changes  in  his  own  conduct,  the  change  is 
much  greater  for  the  horse  than  for  the  man. 
The  result  is  death  to  the  horse  and  continued 
life  to  the  man.  The  same  principle  is  illus- 
trated in  the  case  of  people  who  have  centered 
all  their  interest  and  affection  in  one  person 
or  one  pursuit;  if  disaster  overtakes  this  favor- 
ite person  or  pursuit  they  may  and  do  die — of 
a  broken  heart,  it  is  said.  Really  what  hap- 
pens is  a  change — a  change  so  great  in  the  en- 
vironment that  the  person  is  unable  to  adapt 
himself  to  it,  and  dies.  Had  his  interests  and 
affections  been  more  widely  distributed,  both 
as  regards  persons  and  pursuits,  the  blotting 
out  of  any  one  would  have  been  so  small  a 
part  of  the  whole  that  his  power  of  adaptation, 
that  is  to  say  his  hold  on  life,  would  not  have 
been  overwhelmed.  Men  of  varied  interests 
and  attachments  not  only  live  a  higher  life  but 
are  likely  to  live  a  longer  one. 

Science  has  now  for  a  long  time  indicated 


LIFE  17 

that  all  forces  are  but  different  manifestations 
of  one  force;  that  all  nature  is  but  the  varied 
manifestation  of  the  Infinite  Power  behind 
nature.  This  one  force,  this  Infinite  Power, 
the  Scriptures  have  always  taught,  is  God. 
And  if  this  be  true,  the  one  thing  necessary 
for  the  eternal  life  of  any  living  being  is  a  suf- 
ficiently perfect  obedience  to  God,  that  is  to 
say,  sufhciently  perfect  correspondence  with 
all  the  infinite  forces  of  the  universe;  because 
death  comes  always  and  invariably  from  failure 
to  harmonize  with  some  manifestation  of  the 
forces  of  the  universe. 

But  to  be  able  tO'  act  harmoniously  with  the 
forces  of  an  environment  demands  a  creature 
with  attributes  necessary  to  perceive  the  action 
of  these  forces  and  to  accommodate  itself  to 
them.  The  fish  is  able  to  live  in  the  water 
and  the  bird  in  the  air  because  they  are  crea- 
tures whose  very  vital  force  produces  in  them 
capacities  for  corresponding  with  their  envi- 
ronments. The  human  race  exhibits  creatures 
with  higher  powers  of  adapting  themselves  to 
the  varied  play  of  God's  forces,  or  as  they  are 
more  frequently  called  the  forces  of  nature; 
but  the  various  organs  and  functions  of  fish, 
bird  and  man  are  due  to  as  many  different 
kinds  of  vital  force,  which  certainly  and  in- 
exorably develop  the  creature  in  which  they 


i8  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

dwell  each  after  its  own  kind.  The  most 
powerful  microscope  fails  to  show  any  essen- 
tial difference  in  the  eggs  or  ova  in  which 
originate  the  fish,  snake,  dog  and  man,  but 
distinct  and  peculiar  vital  forces  exist  in  them 
which  will  little  by  little  differentiate  the  one 
from  the  other,  and  at  length  produce  the  very 
dififerent  creatures  which  they  severally  char- 
acterize. It  is  then  the  different  kinds  of 
vital  force  or  life  which  produce  the  different 
kinds  of  living  creatures  with  their  varying 
powers  of  perception  and  action.  From  the 
standpoint  of  science,  therefore,  it  would  seem 
that  if  the  problem  of  eternal  life  were  to  be 
solved,  a  new  and  dififerent  kind  of  life  in  a 
new  creature  was  demanded,  whose  responsive 
powers  would  be  great  enough  to  meet  the 
requirements,  whose  vital  force  would  pro- 
duce faculties  sufficiently  sensitive  to  perceive 
all  changes  in  the  environment,  and  powers 
sufficient  to  make  the  necessary  correspond- 
ence; and  this  the  New  Testament  declares 
to  be  the  Christian  doctrine.  Let  us  examine 
this  a  little  in  detail. 

That  there  are  dififerent  kinds  of  life  is  a 
matter  of  the  most  common  knowledge. 
Lowest  in  the  scale,  we  all  note  the  vegetable 
life,  that  which  is  possessed  by  the  ferns,  the 
grasses  and  the  trees.     While  it  is  true  that 


LIFE  19 

the  very  lowest  kind  of  living  vegetable  organ- 
isms may  not  be  distinguished  by  the  inexpe- 
rienced from  the  lowest  kind  of  animal  crea- 
tures; and  while  perhaps  even  the  most 
experienced  naturalists,  when  dealing  with  the 
very  lowest  forms  of  life,  can  scarcely  tell  the 
living  plant  from  the  living  animal;  still  all 
mankind  recognizes  the  fact  that  the  life  of  the 
tree  is  not  the  life  of  the  tiger,  and  that  the  life 
of  the  grass  is  not  the  life  of  the  worm. 
Next  higher  in  the  scale,  we  observe  animal 
life,  and  the  world,  learned  and  unlearned, 
notes  that  the  animals  possess  a  different  life 
from  that  of  the  trees  and  grasses.  The  most 
of  men  may  not  be  able  to  give  scientific  de- 
scriptions, but  they  know  and  realize  that  the 
animals  are  possessed  of  life  peculiar  to  them- 
selves, and  the  veriest  savage  would  not  hesi- 
tate to  place  the  animals  on  a  higher  plane 
than  the  plants. 

But  now  we  approach  a  region  of  greater 
difficulty.  That  plant  life  and  animal  life  are 
dififerent  things  may  be  considered  univer- 
sally accepted  by  the  acts  and  thoughts  of  man- 
kind, but  from  here  on  the  philosophers  do 
not  agree.  One  class  holds  that  human  life 
is  more  than  and  different  from  animal  life, 
that  human  beings  are  not  mere  animals. 
Another   class,    with    great   force   and   vigor 


20  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

maintain  that  man  is  merely  the  highest  order 
of  animal.  But  leaving  the  philosophers  for 
the  time  being,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  idea 
of  the  mass  of  the  people,  as  evidenced 
by  their  conduct  and  by  their  language, 
is  that  man  is  more  than  animal,  and  that 
human  life  is  a  distinct  kind  of  life.  The 
frequent  use  of  the  phrase  "  human  life " 
by  all  orders  of  men,  and  the  sacredness  of  it, 
show  that  mankind  places  animal  life  in  one 
class  and  human  life  in  another.  The  same 
idea  is  shown  in  the  determined  claim  that 
man  differs  from  the  brute  in  possessing  a 
soul,  which  is  only  another  way  of  saying  that 
man  differs  from  the  brute  in  possessing  a 
different  kind  of  life.  In  fact  this  idea  has 
become  so  engrafted  in  human  speech  that 
the  word  soul  is  often  used  to  designate 
human  life:  as  for  instance  when,  in  case  of 
shipwreck  or  other  accident,  the  reports  state 
a  loss  of  so  many  souls,  meaning  thereby  that 
so  many  human  beings  were  drowned  or 
otherwise  killed. 

In  addition  to  the  plant,  the  animal,  and  the 
human  being,  both  the  Scriptures,  and  human 
beings  in  their  ordinary  thinking  and  speak- 
ing, recognize  still  another  living  being — a 
spirit.  But  while  recognizing  in  act  and  word 
the  existence  of  several  kinds  of  life  and  several 


LIFE  21 

kinds  of  living  creatures,  mankind,  philoso- 
phers included,  seem  not  too  sure  as  to  their 
own  conclusions.  Ghosts  and  spirits  savor 
of  the  shadowy,  whether  they  figure  in  tales 
or  treatises;  and  man  and  the  animals  in 
these  latter  times  seem  to  have  run  much 
together  even  in  popular  fancy.  If  there  be 
indeed  different  kinds  of  life  and  different 
classes  of  living  creatures;  if  the  human 
being  is  not  merely  the  highest  order  of 
animal;  and  if  the  spirit  life  is  something 
separate  and  distinct  from  animal  life  or 
human  life;  and  if  the  eternal  life  which  has 
been  the  hope  of  mankind  in  all  ages  is  not  a 
mere  continuation  of  animal  or  human  life, 
certainly  the  distinctions  between  them  should 
be  made  most  plain,  and  confounding  them 
the  one  with  the  other  should  be  as  diligently 
avoided  as  the  confounding  of  mushrooms 
and  toadstools,  quinine  and  morphine.  For 
a  failure  to  distinguish  between  them  may  be 
as  fatal  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other,  if  there 
be  indeed  a  spiritual  life  and  it  be  worth  the 
getting. 


CHAPTER  II 

KINGDOMS    OF    LIFE 

No  more  valuable  method  of  clarifying  ideas 
has  ever  been  discovered  than  that  of  com- 
parison. We  learn  to  distinguish  one  thing 
from  another  only  by  comparing  their  respec- 
tive characteristics.  We  get  our  most  clean- 
cut  conception  of  a  thing  from  a  careful  com- 
parison of  it  with  other  similar  but  different 
things.  This  process  enables  the  physician 
to  come  to  a  correct  diagnosis  of  the  disease 
and  thereby  apply  the  proper  remedy;  it  is 
pursued  by  the  lawyer  and  judge  in  applying 
the  law;  consciously  or  unconsciously,  every 
thinker  and  skillful  worker  arrives  at  precision 
and  efficiency  by  an  exercise  of  the  faculty  of 
comparison.  By  this  method  naturalists  have 
classified  all  things  under  the  sun;  by  this 
method  they  have  established  species,  classes 
and  genera,  and  finally,  as  they  designate 
them,  kingdoms,  the  characteristics  which 
serve  as  standards  of  comparison  becoming 
more  and  more  important  as  we  ascend  from 
species  to  kingdoms. 


KINGDOMS  OF  LIFE  23 

The  differences  which  decide  between  mem- 
bers of  kingdoms  are  fundamental.  When 
therefore  the  naturaHst  speaks  of  the  mineral 
kingdom,  the  vegetable  kingdom  and  the  ani- 
mal kingdom,  he  speaks  of  classes  of  things 
separated  by  the  broadest  distinctions.  It 
seems  that  the  use  of  the  word  kingdom  in 
this  connection  is  a  particularly  happy  one. 
A  kingdom  is  that  which  is  under  the  domin- 
ion or  rule  of  a  king,  that  which  is  subject,  in 
other  words,  to  the  laws  of  a  king,  that  which 
is  subject  to  the  same  system  of  laws.  There- 
fore a  kingdom  means  something  more  than 
territory.  In  reality,  by  kingdom  is  meant 
those  persons  who  are  under  or  subject  to  a 
certain  system  of  laws,  wherever  these  persons 
may  be  found,  whether  within  the  so-called 
territory  of  the  kingdom,  on  the  high  seas  in 
the  king's  ships,  marching  in  his  armies  in 
foreign  lands,  or  dwelling  peaceably  abroad. 
It  is  the  reign  of  law  alone  that  gives  exist- 
ence to  a  kingdom;  subjection  to  its  laws,  and 
not  mountains,  rivers  or  surveyor's  lines 
mark  the  boundaries  of  the  kingdom.  The 
individual  subjects  of  the  king  are,  as  a  rule, 
dissimilar  in  outward  individual  characteris- 
tics, but  the  essential  qualification  is  whether 
they  are  subject  to  the  laws  of  the  king. 
Each  kingdom  has  its  own  proper  system  of 


24  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

law,  and  all  members  of  the  kingdom  conform 
thereto. 

Obedience  to  a  system  of  laws  serves  as  the 
standard  of  classification,  to  distinguish  physi- 
cal as  well  as  political  kingdoms. 

One  of  the  great  laws  of  the  mineral  king- 
dom or  the  inorganic  or  not-living  kingdom 
is  the  law  of  gravitation;  to  this  law  all  mat- 
ter is  obedient;  the  laws  of  crystallization  and 
chemical  afifinity  also  hold  sway  here.  So  we 
find  the  unliving  and  inorganic  matter  moving 
upon  the  earth  or  held  in  its  place  upon  it  or 
revolving  through  space  in  obedience  to  the 
law  of  gravitation;  we  find  the  minerals  and 
rocks  crystallizing,  and  we  find  everywhere 
matter  combined  and  combining  in  accordance 
with  chemical  affinities.  But  on  the  contrary 
we  do  not  find  any  obedience  to  those  laws 
which  cause  the  watery  sap  to  run  up  in  a  tree 
instead  of  down,  or  cause  the  plant  to  grow 
upward  in  apparent  defiance  of  the  law  of 
gravitation;  nor  do  we  find  any  seed-time  or 
harvest  prevailing  in  the  regions  of  the  inor- 
ganic kingdom,  or  any  obedience  to  the  great 
law  of  the  plant  kingdom,  the  herb  yielding 
seed  and  the  fruit-tree  yielding  fruit  after  its 
kind.  That  which  is  of  the  inorganic  kingdom 
is  subject  to  the  laws  of  that  kingdom  and  to 
those  alone. 


KINGDOMS  OF  LIFE  25 

But  when  we  regard  the  vegetable  kingdom 
we  find  a  new  system  of  laws,  and  we  find  the 
members  of  the  kingdom  uniformly  obeying 
those  laws.  Each  kind  brings  forth  seed  after 
its  own  kind  and  multiplies  and  increases; 
moisture  and  heat,  which  produce  no  such 
effect  on  the  pebbles  of  the  inorganic  world, 
cause  seed  to  sprout  and  the  plants  to  grow. 
While  the  water  in  the  brook  by  no  chance 
ever  runs  uphill,  in  the  vegetable  kingdom 
we  find  the  water  from  the  earth  taken  up 
scores,  perhaps  hundreds  of  feet  from  the 
earth,  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  the  new 
kingdom.  And  as  the  time  of  frost  ap- 
proaches, when  it  would  work  irreparable 
damage  to  the  tree,  and  yet  before  the  frost 
is  at  hand,  this  same  water  is  sent  back  from 
the  twigs  and  branches  into  the  earth.  The 
only  changes  wrought  in  the  inorganic  world 
are  the  physical  and  chemical ;  but  in  the  vege- 
table kingdom  we  find  the  atmosphere  in 
passing  through  the  leaves  of  a  tree  is  robbed 
of  its  carbonic  acid  (a  combination  of  carbon 
and  oxygen),  the  carbon  being  retained  by  the 
tree  and  the  oxygen  sent  back  into  the  air; 
while  the  roots  of  the  tree,  on  the  other  hand, 
take  in  the  nitrogen  and  the  potash  dissolved 
in  the  water  and  these  are  converted  into  liv- 
ing matter  under  new  combinations.     Every- 


26  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

where  in  every  plant  the  matter  of  the  inor- 
ganic world,  the  oxygen,  the  carbon,  the  hy- 
drogen, the  nitrogen,  the  potash  are  being 
wrought  into  living  forms  in  obedience  to  the 
laws  of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  A  thing  is  a 
plant  or  not  as  it  obeys  or  does  not  obey  the 
peculiar  laws  of  the  plant  kingdom. 

As  when  passing  the  frontier  of  a  political 
kingdom  we  become  at  once  aware  of  different 
rules  and  regulations  and  laws  of  conduct,  so 
when  we  pass  from  the  plant  to  the  animal 
kingdom  we  are  soon  made  aware  of  the  sway 
of  an  entirely  new  system  of  law.  A  plant  in 
breathing  takes  in  the  carbonic  acid  of  the 
atmosphere,  breaks  it  up  within  itself  into 
carbon  and  oxygen,  retains  the  carbon  and 
sends  forth  the  oxygen.  The  animal,  on  the 
contrary,  in  breathing  takes  in  the  oxygen 
which  unites  with  the  carbon  within  and  is 
sent  forth  into  the  atmosphere  as  carbonic 
acid,  the  animal  and  the  plant  thus  playing 
complementary  parts  in  their  efifects  upon  the 
atmosphere,  the  one  rejecting  what  is  needed 
for  the  other.  No  plant,  be  it  moss  or  grass 
or  fern  or  tree,  can  exist  in  an  atmosphere 
without  carbonic  acid;  no  animal,  on  the  con- 
trary, could  exist  in  an  atmosphere  without 
oxygen.  The  plant  feeds  upon  the  inorganic 
materials  carbon,  nitrogen,  potash,  lime  and 


KINGDOMS  OF  LIFE  27 

the  like  existing  in  the  air  and  soil;  the  animal, 
on  the  contrary,  cannot  live  upon  inorganic 
material;  its  food  must  have  passed  through 
the  laboratory  of  vegetable  Ufe.  The  food 
of  the  plant  needs  no  digestion  to  fit  it  for 
assimilation,  but  the  food  of  the  animal  is 
incapable  of  sustaining  its  life  in  the  condi- 
tion in  which  it  comes  to  it.  It  must  be  di- 
gested. Hence  the  broad  and  distinctive 
characteristic  of  the  animal  is  its  stomach. 
Even  the  formless  jelly-like  amoeba  seems  to 
create  or  improvise  a  stomach,  out  of  its 
homogeneous  mass,  as  soon  as  a  particle  of 
food  comes  in  contact  with  it;  or,  if  one 
desires  to  so  regard  it,  the  whole  animal  is  a 
stomach.  The  animal  is  thus  again  subject 
to  a  system  of  laws  which  does  not  prevail 
in  the  vegetable  kingdom.  The  animal  re- 
sponds to  and  obeys  the  laws  regulating  its 
breathing  and  eating  and  other  actions  which 
have  no  application  at  all  in  the  kingdom  of 
plants.  The  animal  is  separated  from  the 
mineral  kingdom  by  virtue  of  its  being  alive, 
from  the  plant  kingdom  by  virtue  of  its  being 
endowed  with  an  entirely  dififerent  kind  of  life, 
but  in  each  case  it  is  separated  by  being  sub- 
ject to  a  dififerent  system  of  laws — laws  which 
the  mineral  and  the  plant  are  not  subject  to 
and  cannot  obey,  because  they  are  not  ani- 


28  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

mals,  and  which  the  animal  must  obey  at  the 
peril  of  its  life  because  it  is  one. 

The  inquiry  now  naturally  arises  whether 
man  is  a  member  of  the  animal  kingdom,  or 
whether  he  is  distinguished  by  peculiarities 
so  fundamental  as  to  place  him  outside  of  it. 
Is  there,  in  a  word,  a  human  kingdom  as 
distinct  from  the  animal  as  the  animal  is  from 
the  vegetable? 

That  man's  body  is  a  development  of  the 
animal  body  might  as  well  be  admitted  as  now 
most  probable.  The  records  which  geology 
has  unearthed,  of  the  life  of  the  past  ages  of 
the  earth,  and  the  study  of  comparative  an- 
atomy tend  to  show  its  evolution  from  the 
most  rudimentary  forms  of  the  digestive, 
respiratory,  circulatory  and  nervous  systems 
which  mankind  enjoys  in  common  with  all 
higher  animals.  Nor  can  man  claim  a  veiy 
exclusive  property  in  the  formation  of  his 
limbs,  which  seem  most  to  distinguish  him 
from  the  other  animals.  Not  a  few  species  of 
animals  use  their  hind  and  fore  legs  and  their 
hind  and  fore  paws  in  a  manner  very  similar 
to  the  way  in  which  man  uses  his  legs  and 
arms  and  feet  and  hands.  The  bear  does 
fairly  well  walking  upon  his  hind  legs;  the 
squirrel  uses  his  fore  paws  in  a  manner  not 
unlike  mankind;  so  with  many  other  animals; 


KINGDOMS  OF  LIFE  29 

and  when  it  comes  to  the  monkey  the  differ- 
ence is  small;  and  when  at  last  we  reach  the 
anthropoid  ape,  anatomically  there  is  as  much 
difference  between  him  and  his  next  lower 
animal  relative  as  there  is  between  man  and 
himself.  So  that  if  the  elevation  of  man  to 
a  higher  and  separate  kingdom  depended 
upon  the  form  of  his  body,  or  upon  the  opera- 
tions going  on  within  him  of  breathing  and 
digestion  and  circulation  and  capability  of 
varied  motions,  the  case  would  be  lost.  It 
seems  useless  for  the  defenders  of  religion  to 
any  longer  maintain  a  desultory  and  seem- 
ingly hopeless  conflict  where  the  battle  ap- 
pears irretrievably  lost.  There  never  was  any 
need  of  the  battle,  to  begin  with,  and  much 
less  is  there  any  necessity  for  continuing  it. 
The  close  relationship  of  man  to  the  animal 
must  be  accepted  as  a  fact,  explain  it  as  we 
may. 

Man  w^e  may  therefore  unhesitatingly  say 
is  the  highest  evolutionary  development  of  the 
animal  kingdom.  But  is  he  not  more?  If 
it  may  be  admitted  that  man  is  an  animal,  and 
also  maintained  that  he  is  something  more 
than,  and  therefore  different  from  an  animal, 
there  is  relief  at  once  from  many  of  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  old  theologians.  They  felt — 
and  they  were  right — that  it  was  impossible 


30  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

to  harmonize  the  statement,  that  man  was  an 
animal,  with  the  Scriptures;  but  on  the  con- 
trary they  could  not  answer  the  objections  of 
geology  and  comparative  anatomy,  upon  the 
theory  that  man  was  an  unrelated  being, 
specially  created  six  thousand  years  since. 
The  evidence  of  his  descent  from  lowest  ani- 
mal forms,  and  the  evidence  of  his  inhabiting 
the  earth  for  very  much  more  than  six  thous- 
and years,  were  fatal  to  the  special  creation 
theory. 

The  defenders  of  the  Bible  and  of  the 
Church  seem  in  all  ages  to  have  been  fond  of 
encountering  unnecessary  obstacles.  The 
book  of  Genesis  does  indeed  say  that  God 
created  man,  but  it  says  more  than  this.  It 
says,  ''And  God  said,  Let  us  make  man  in  our 
image,  after  our  likeness;  and  let  them  have 
dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over 
the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  the  cattle,  and 
over  all  the  earth,  and  over  every  creeping 
thing  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth.  So  God 
created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  the  image 
of  God  created  he  him."  Now  it  would  seem 
to  the  ordinary  reader,  without  scientific  or 
theological  preconceptions,  that  man  was 
already  upon  the  earth;  that  is,  the  animal 
man,  or  the  animal  having  the  form  of  a  man, 
when  God  said  "  Let  us  make  '  man  '  in  our 


KINGDOMS  OF  LIFE  31 

image,  after  our  likeness " ;  and  that  that 
which  required  the  making  and  the  creation 
was  not  a  body,  but  a  human  soul  with  human 
intelligence.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the 
most  violent  stickler  for  the  literal  in  Biblical 
interpretation  would  contend  that  man's  body 
is  the  likeness  of  God.  In  fact,  such  interpre- 
tation would  savor  much  of  the  sacrilegious. 
The  likeness  of  man  to  God  and  the  reason 
why  he  is  the  image  of  God  consists  in  his 
possessing  in  some  slight  degree  the  foreor- 
daining and  other  powers  of  God.  This  not 
only  seems  reasonable  on  general  principles, 
but  seems  to  be  plainly  indicated  in  what  im- 
mediately follows  after  the  announced  deter- 
mination to  "  make  man  in  our  image,  after 
our  likeness."  Nothing  is  said,  after  the 
announcement,  about  man's  bodily  form,  or 
his  arms  or  legs  or  anything  whatsoever  per- 
taining to  his  physical  characteristics.  What 
follows  has  relation  to  something  entirely 
different,  viz.,  dominion,  and  that,  too,  not  a 
small  or  limited  dominion,  but  a  wide  and 
sweeping  dominion;  such  a  dominion  as  would 
be  an  utter  impossibility  were  man  a  mere 
animal.  Tlie  apes  and  the  monkeys  do  not 
to  this  day  rank  as  a  conquering  race;  they 
stand  no  chance  as  against  the  elephants,  the 
hons  and  the  tigers,  or  even  the  dogs.     But 


32  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

here  in  animal  man  was  a  form  peculiarly 
suited  to  the  purpose  as  the  instrument  of 
intelligence  and  reason,  of  which  dominion  is 
an  essential  and  distinguishing  characteristic. 
The  earth  and  all  it  contained  were  devoted  to 
the  exercising  and  development  of  the  newly 
created  faculties  of  man,  for  "  God  said  unto 
them.  Be  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replenish 
the  earth,  and  subdue  it;  and  have  dominion 
over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of 
the  air,  and  over  every  living  thing  that 
moveth  upon  the  earth." 

Here  is  not  only  counsel  which  God  held 
with  himself,  that  man  was  to  be  created  in 
his  own  image,  but  such  a  designation  of  his 
future  activities  as  at  once  and  forever  dis- 
tinguished him  from  the  "  brute  creation." 
For  what  was  the  necessary  creation  for  the 
accomplishment  of  this  subduing  the  earth  and 
having  dominion  over  all  the  life  of  it?  Not 
the  creation  certainly  of  man's  body  or  ^f  the 
animal  man,  because  with  the  result  before  us 
we  see  that  animals  much  stronger  and  very 
similar  have  made  no  progress  in  this  direc- 
tion. What  was  needed  was  something  more 
than  a  living  body  however  perfect.  That 
something  was  that  which  we  call  the  human 
soul;  and  that  was  what  God  created.  For 
the  record  further  says  "And  the  Lord  God 


KINGDOMS  OF  LIFE  33 

formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and 
breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  Ufe; 
and  man  became  a  Hving  soul."  It  is  physi- 
ological man,  as  we  know,  that  is  formed  of 
the  "dust  of  the  ground";  and  when  God 
breathed  into  him  ''  the  breath  of  life,"  what 
kind  of  life  could  it  have  been  but  a  life  in  the 
likeness  of  his  own — spiritual  hfe;  and  when 
as  a  result  of  the  life-giving  process  "  man 
became  a  living  soul,"  the  "  living  soul "  or 
life,  as  the  words  are  elsewhere  rendered,  was 
a  new  kind  of  life,  dififerent  from  that  of  the 
animal  creation,  and  after  the  likeness  of  that 
of  its  Creator.  It  is  the  soul  of  man,  with  its 
power  to  reason,  and  its  kinship  to  God,  that 
has  enabled  him  to  subdue  the  earth,  to  obtain 
dominion  and  to  keep  it.  Therefore  when 
God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  an  entirely 
permissible  construction  of  the  passage  in 
Genesis  is  that  man  existed  at  that  time,  as 
an  animal  struggling  with  animals  on  the 
earth,  as  an  animal  formed  long  since  of  the 
dust  of  the  ground;  that  God  breathed  into 
him  the  breath  of  a  new  kind  of  life;  and  that 
in  addition  to  what  he  had  been  before  he  now 
became  a  new  living  soul  akin  to  God.  The 
creation  of  the  human  man  was  the  creation 
of  his  human  soul  or  life;  and  therefore 
there   arose   a    new   and    higher   kingdom — 


34         THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

the  human  kingdom — whose  members  perceive 
and  obey  laws  pecuhar  to  themselves. 

It  may  be  objected  to  the  view  just  pre- 
sented that  we  ought  in  that  case  still  tO'  be 
able  to  find  the  animal  man  upon  the  earth. 
But  it  may  be  replied  that,  according  to  Mr. 
Darwin  and  the  best  authorities  on  evolution, 
a  species  better  fitted  to  thrive  in  its  environ- 
ment than  another  closely  allied  species,  al- 
ways tends  to  exterminate  the  less  fit  species. 
If  this  be  true — and  it  is  scarcely  to  be  disput- 
ed— then  upon  the  creation  of  animals  into 
human  souls  these  newly  created  human 
beings  would,  according  toi  the  doctrine  of 
evolution,  be  fruitful  and  multiply  and  replen- 
ish or  fill  the  earth  and  subdue  it,  and  in  the 
process  exterminate  the  less  fitted  and  most 
nearly  related  species.  Or  it  might  be  replied 
that  if  a  species  of  animal  like  the  anthro- 
poid ape  was  selected,  what  believer  in  evo- 
lution could  for  a  moment  doubt  that  such  an 
animal  form,  endowed  with  human  intelli- 
gence, and  becoming  the  source  of  a  new 
species,  would  rapidly  develop  away  from  the 
parent  and  nearly  related  species  and  become 
as  different  from  the  anthropoid  ape  as  man- 
kind has  since  become.  That  a  new  race  was 
provided  for  when  God  created  man  is  further 
indicated  by  the  statement  in   Genesis,  "  So 


KINGDOMS  OF  LIFE  35 

God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  the 
image  of  God  created  he  him;  male  and 
female  created  he  them.  And  God  blessed 
them,  and  God  said  unto  them,  Be  fruitful, 
and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth."  Be- 
cause if  the  animal  form  existed  on  the  earth 
at  the  time  spoken  of  in  Genesis,  and  God 
breathed  into  this  animal  man's  nostrils  the 
breath  of  life,  and  man  became  a  living  soul 
(in  other  words,  became  a  human  being),  and 
God  created  the  human  being  male  and  female, 
the  laws  of  evolution  would  determine  all  the 
rest,  and  we  should  find  mankind  developing 
from  the  original  species,  and  thus  Genesis 
and  geology  would  both  be  satisfied;  thus  the 
Scriptures,  science  and  common  sense  be  all 
of  one  accord. 

While  some  naturalists  contend  that  all  life 
which  we  see  upon  the  earth  at  the  present 
day  has  been  evolved  from  one  original  spe- 
cies of  life,  and  even  that  this  original  life  was 
evolved  from  inorganic  matter,  others,  and 
those  some  of  the  most  eminent,  are  content 
to  claim  that  science  only  surely  indicates  that 
the  present  forms  of  living  creatures  have 
been  evolved  from  a  few  original  parent  forms 
of  life ;  and  so  far  from  contending  that  living 
creatures  developed  from  inorganic  matter  in 
the  first  instance  without  special  creation,  they 


36  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

admit  that  there  seems  to  be  a  chasm  between 
the  living  and  the  .not-Hving  which  the  ordi- 
nary laws  of  evolution  in  nowise  bridge  over. 
It  is  to  be  noticed  that  Mr.  Darwin  frankly 
admits  the  difficulty  of  connecting,  by  evolu- 
tionary laws,  man  as  we  find  him  and  the 
highest  of  the  lower  animals.  He  says:  '*  No 
doubt  the  difference  in  this  respect  [mental 
power]  is  enormous,  even  if  we  compare  the 
mind  of  one  of  the  lowest  savages  who  has 
no  words  to  express  any  number  higher  than 
four,  and  who  uses  hardly  any  abstract  terms 
for  common  objects  or  for  the  affections,  with 
that  of  the  most  highly  organized  ape.  The 
difference  would  no  doubt  still  remain  im- 
mense even  if  one  of  the  higher  apes  had  been 
improved  or  civilized  as  much  as  the  dog  has 
been  in  comparison  with  its  parent  form,  the 
wolf  or  jackal."  Mr.  Wallace,  Mr.  Darwin's 
co-discoverer  of  the  theory  of  natural  selec- 
tion, goes  further  when  he  says,  "  Natural 
selection  could  only  have  endowed  the  savage 
with  a  brain  little  superior  to  that  of  an  ape." 
It  is  just  here  that  Revelation  supplies  a  leaf 
missing  in  the  book  of  Nature.  The  doctrines 
of  evolution,  natural  selection,  the  struggle  for 
life,  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  deduced 
from  the  records  of  nature,  seem  to  admirably 
account  for  the  descent  of  man  from  the  lowest 


KINGDOMS  OF  LIFE  37 

animals  of  creation,  provided  we  contemplate 
man  as  an  animal  only.  And  in  endeavoring 
to  defeat  the  tracing  back  of  man's  descent 
from  animal  ancestors  the  theologians  have 
been  hopelessly  worsted,  because  they  have 
accepted  battle  on  the  chosen  position  of  the 
naturalist — man's  bodily  organization.  But 
the  naturalists  themselves  indicate  in  their 
writings  that  they  are  far  from  feeling  them- 
selves on  certain  ground  by  admitting  the 
"  enormous  "  dififerences  between  man  and  the 
highest  of  the  lower  animals.  They  strength- 
en our  opinion  of  their  own  inward  dissatis- 
faction when  we  compare  the  almost  mathe- 
matical precision  of  their  demonstrations,  so 
long  as  they  are  confined  to  anatomical  and 
physiological  departments,  and  their  vague 
conjectures  when  attempting  to  trace  man — 
the  whole  man,  body  and  soul — from  the  ani- 
mal kingdom.  It  is  just  here  then  that  the 
Bible  offers  its  explanation.  Physical  man 
existed  when  God  took  counsel  as  related  in 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis.  Evolution  had 
brought  forth  the  highest  possible  form  of 
animal  life.  Animal,  man  was,  and  animal 
he  would  have  remained.  Natural  selection 
had  produced  its  highest  type.  When  God 
into  this  animal  breathed  the  breath  of  his 
own  life,  a  new  kingdom  appeared  upon  the 


38  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

earth,  and  man  the  animal  became  a  human 
Hving  soul,  a  human  being.  Upon  this  human 
being  the  inexorable  laws  of  natural  selection 
at  once  began  to  operate,  and  the  struggle 
for  life  has  developed  man  into  what  we  find 
him  to-day.  Thus  we  are  led  to  answer  in 
the  negative  the  question  whether  man  may 
be  placed  in  the  animal  kingdom,  and  to 
decide  that  in  addition  to  the  three  lower 
kingdoms — mineral,  vegetable  and  animal — 
there  is  a  fourth,  the  human  kingdom. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   SPIRITUAL    KINGDOM 

Human  life  is  certainly  a  high  order  of  life, 
but  does  it  furnish  the  hope  to  its  possessors 
that  it  is  an  eternal  life?  If  we  depend  upon 
natural  science,  the  utmost  to  be  obtained  is 
that  such  a  thing  is  a  possibility,  and  an  indi- 
cation in  what  direction  to  look  for  it.  Apolo- 
gists for  the  Christian  religion  have  attempted 
to  give  the  needful  encouragement  by  putting 
forth  the  old  heathen  doctrine  of  the  immor- 
tality of  the  human  soul;  that  is  to  say,  the 
doctrine  which  teaches  that  the  life  which 
human  beings  enjoy  is  in  and  of  itself  eternal. 
But  the  arguments  from  nature  upon  which 
this  theory  rests  are  most  unsatisfactory.  He 
who  would  believe  in  the  eternal  life  must 
found  his  belief  in  the  information  furnished 
by  Revelation,  by  the  Bible;  but  the  Bible 
does  not  seem  to  teach  that  the  human  soul 
is  immortal  per  se.  It  does  teach,  on  the  con- 
trary, that  man  is  mortal;  and  in  this  respect 
it  does  not  distinguish  between  his  body  and 
his  soul.     It  also  teaches  that  there  is  a  kind 


40  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

of  life  distinct  from  the  life  of  the  human  soul, 
and  that  there  is  a  higher  kingdom  than  the 
human  kingdom — the  spiritual  kingdom,  and 
that  the  life  of  the  members  of  this  spiritual 
kingdom  is  an  eternal  life.  It  teaches,  too, 
in  the  most  unmistakable  terms,  that  the  liv- 
ing creatures  of  the  spiritual  kingdom  are  sub- 
ject to  an  entirely  novel  and  peculiar  system 
of  laws,  which  are  inapplicable  to,  and  unap- 
preciated by  all  outside  the  realm.  If  any  one 
will  attentively  read  the  New  Testament  for 
the  purpose  of  noting  whether  there  is  or  is 
not  therein  described  a  kind  of  life  (a  spiritual 
life)  separate  and  distinct  from  the  human 
life;  and  whether  there  is  or  is  not  therein 
described  a  kingdom  separate  and  distinct 
from  the  animal  and  human  kingdoms;  and 
whether  or  no  there  is  therein  described  a  liv- 
ing creature,  who  is  a  member  of  a  higher 
kingdom  than  the  human  kingdom,  that  is  to 
say,  subject  to  different  laws  from  those  gov- 
erning the  ordinary  members  of  the  human 
kingdom,  he  will  certainly  observe  how  seem- 
ingly the  plainest  language  is  used  to  empha- 
size the  truth  that  there  is  a  life,  distinguished 
as  spiritual,  so  fundamentally  different  from 
the  human  life  that  its  possessor  is  a  new 
creature  who  can  gain  existence  only  by  birth. 
He  will  also  note  that  man  is,  as  regards  this 


THE  SPIRITUAL  KINGDOM       41 

new  kingdom,  dead;  that  neither  the  man  of 
flesh  nor  any  part  of  him  hves  forever,  and 
that  if  he  is  to  obtain  eternal  Ufe,  he  can 
obtain  it,  not  by  fortifying  the  present  Hfe, 
but  by  obtaining  a  new  kind  of  hfe.  This 
matter  will  be  returned  to  later  on.  For  the 
present  the  human  kingdom  and  the  spiritual 
kingdom  are  taken  for  granted,  and  taken  as 
utterly  separate  and  distinct  kingdoms,  whose 
members  possess  entirely  distinct  kinds  of  life 
and  are  in  fact  dififerent  beings. 

It  may  be  objected  to  this  theory  that  it 
involves  a  dual  existence,  that  it  necessitates 
two  beings  living  in  one.  It  certainly  is  open 
to  this  objection,  if  indeed  it  be  an  objection. 
Let  us  examine  it.  From  the  Scriptural 
standpoint  this  need  cause  no  dififiiculty,  for 
the  words  body  and  soul  and  spirit  as  repre- 
senting separate  and  distinct  entities,  are  used 
over  and  over  again;  and  St.  Paul  most  plainly 
insists  upon  the  fact  that  he  was  composed 
of  two  controlling,  or  as  he  puts  it  warring 
elements,  the  carnal,  or  as  we  might  say  the 
human  element,  and  the  spiritual  element. 

Nor  is  the  objection  any  more  valid  from 
the  standpoint  of  science.  We  find  things  may 
be  subject  to  two  or  more  sets  of  laws  and 
belong  to  two  or  more  kingdoms.  The  citi- 
zen of  one  country  or  kingdom  sojourning  in 


42  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

another  king-dom  is  subject  not  only  to  the 
laws  of  his  own  sovereign  but  to  the  laws  of 
the  sovereign  in  whose  land  he  dwells.  There 
may  arrive  a  time  indeed  when  it  is  impossible 
for  him  to  any  longer  obey  the  laws  of  both, 
in  which  case  he  must  give  up  the  one  or  the 
other  and  cease  to  belong,  as  it  were,  to  both 
kingdoms.  But  under  ordinary  circumstan- 
ces the  sojourner  finds  no  difficulty  in  living 
under  two  kingdoms.  Citizens  of  one  city 
have  been  expressly  honored  by  being  made 
citizens  of  one  or  more  other  cities,  thereby 
placing  themselves  under  two  or  more  sets  of 
laws.  This  is  still  better  illustrated  in  the 
case  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  who 
are,  at  the  same  time,  citizens  of  some  par- 
ticular State.  It  has  frequently  seemed  to 
those  unacquainted  with  the  American  system 
as  though  it  would  lead  to  inextricable  con- 
fusion, to  be  obliged  to  everywhere  live  sub- 
ject to  two  entirely  distinct  sets  of  laws,  sub- 
ject to  two  entirely  separate  judicial  systems 
and  two  executive  governments;  and  yet  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States  are  seldom  con- 
scious of  their  double  citizenship.  They  are 
enabled  to  live  their  lives  as  subjects  of  two 
kingdoms,  as  it  were,  without  difficulty. 

So  it  may  easily  be  that  man  may  be  at  the 
same  time  a  citizen  of  the  human  kingdom 


THE  SPIRITUAL  KINGDOM       43 

and  a  citizen  of  the  spiritual  kingdom;  he  need 
scarcely  ever  be  conscious  of  this  double  alle- 
giance. The  two  sets  of  laws  may,  on  most 
occasions,  govern  him  so  harmoniously  as  not 
to  excite  consciousness  of  there  being  two 
sets  of  laws.  But  just  as  the  individual  with 
a  double  political  allegiance  may  find  the  ex- 
traordinary circumstances  of  war  compelling 
him  to  make  his  choice  as  to  which  kingdom 
shall  receive  his  sole  allegiance,  so  man  may 
find  himself  in  circumstances  where  his  alle- 
giance to  the  kingdom  of  heaven  may  demand 
his  departure  from  the  kingdom  of  man.  He 
may  voluntarily  violate  the  laws  of  human  life 
and  lose  it,  but  in  doing  so  may  fulfill  that 
strange  declaration  of  Christ  that  "  whosoever 
shall  lose  his  life  shall  save  it,  and  whosoever 
shall  save  his  life  shall  lose  it."  Here  the  two 
kinds  of  life  are  set  over  against  each  other; 
the  plain  teaching  is  that  under  certain  cir- 
cumstances disobedience  to  the  laws  of  human 
life  will  be  necessary  to  the  salvation  of  the 
spiritual  life,  and  the  preservation  of  the 
human  life  render  certain  the  loss  of  the 
spiritual. 

So  again  the  same  thing  may  be  subject  to 
two  sets  of  physical  laws  and  so  belong  at  the 
same  time  to  two  physical  kingdoms.  The 
lime  and  the  potash  and  the  other  inorganic 


44  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

coHvStituents  of  man's  body  do  not  cease  to  be 
subject  to  the  laws  which  govern  all  inorganic 
matter  because  they  have  become  subject  to 
the  laws  of  the  animal  life  as  living  bone  and 
blood  and  muscle.  Man  as  composed  of  mat- 
ter presses  just  as  heavily  against  the  surface 
of  the  earth  whether  dead  or  alive.  If  dead 
he  is  subject  alone  to  the  laws  of  gravity, 
chemical  affinity  and  the  other  laws  which 
reign  over  the  material  inorganic  world;  but 
when  man  is  alive,  while  he  does  not  cease  to 
be  subject  tO'  the  laws  of  the  mineral  kingdom, 
he  becomes  also  subject  to  the  higher  laws  of 
animal  life.  If  then  man  is  a  double  com- 
pound being,  that  is  to  say,  subject  at  the 
same  time  to  two  sets  of  laws,  why  may  he 
not  be  subject  to  three  or  four  sets  of  laws 
and  be  at  once  a  triple  or  quadruple  being? 
That  his  material  substance  renders  him  a 
member  of  the  inorganic  kingdom,  dead  or 
alive,  is  certain;  but  that  his  animal  life  has 
just  as  distinct  an  existence  as  his  material 
substance  is  likewise  certain,  because  the 
mineral  substance  changes  momentarily,  yet 
the  man  is  the  same  man.  While  not  so  cer- 
tain, most  people  will  have  no  difficulty  in 
assuring  themselves  that  the  popular  idea  of 
the  mind  being  something  distinct  from  the 
mere  animal  life  is  a  true  one.     It  may  not  be 


THE  SPIRITUAL  KINGDOM       45 

so  easy  to  prove,  but  it  certainly  is  very  easy 
to  feel,  that  the  thing,  whatever  it  is,  which  is 
able  to  contemplate  and  examine  and  reason 
about  the  body  and  the  animal  life,  which 
feels  and  is  even  able  to  contemplate  its  own 
moods  and  feelings,  and  distinguish  mental 
pain  from  physical  pain,  must  be  something, 
and  a  something  distinct  from  those  other 
things,  bodily  form  and  animal  life,  which  it 
finds  associated  with  itself.  Whether  we  call 
it  mind  or  soul  or  ego  or  what  not  is  a  matter 
of  comparatively  small  consequence. 

The  fourth  being  of  this  composite  creature 
man  is  even  less  easily  distinguished;  in  fact, 
without  Revelation  having  directed  our  atten- 
tion to  it  we  might  have  had  some  indistinct 
intimations  of  its  existence,  but  that  is  all. 
Philosophers  like  Socrates  seem  to  have  been 
groping  after  the  idea  of  it,  and  the  poets  seem 
to  have  had  visions  concerning  it;  but  not 
until  Christ  and  his  apostles  described  it,  and 
showed  us  how  to  distinguish  it,  did  its  ex- 
istence become  certain.  Only  when  Christ 
"  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light "  was 
man  able  clearly  to  distinguish  the  fourth  ele- 
ment of  his  being.  Nor  need  the  scientific 
people  be  surprised  at  this.  The  atmosphere 
has  been  investigated  by  the  philosophers 
since  philosophers  were,  and  previous  to  the 


46         THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  ninety-four  it  is  Hkely  that  nothing  was 
considered  much  more  certain  than  that  chem- 
ists knew  the  constitution  of  the  atmosphere, 
and  that  wherever  else  new  elements  might 
be  searched  for,  little  hope  of  finding  a  new 
one  in  the  atmosphere  was  tO'  be  entertained. 
And  yet,  lo!  in  these  latter  days  we  are  intro- 
duced to  the  new  element  argon,  which  has 
remained  undefined  in  the  air  until  these  late 
times,  although  its  presence  has  been  physi- 
cally felt  by  every  human  being  since  the  race 
began. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  mind,  so  with  the  spirit, 
it  may  not  be  seen  or  felt,  nor  can  its  existence 
as  a  separate  thing  be  proved  to  the  bodily 
senses,  but  like  the  mind  it  can  be  perceived 
by  itself,  and  like  the  mind  or  soul  it  is  capa- 
ble of  detecting  and  realizing  the  presence  of 
its  fellows.  We  have  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  cats  or  apes  are  conscious  of  the  existence 
of  the  soul  of  man,  although  they  are  without 
doubt  conscious  of  the  existence  not  only  of 
his  body  but  his  bodily  life;  an  animal  not 
only  recognizes  man  as  a  body,  but  readily 
distinguishes  a  live  man  from  a  dead  one,  and 
acts  upon  the  perceived  difference.  But  the 
human  mind  recognizes  the  existence  of  other 
numan   minds,    though   mayhap   these    other 


THE  SPIRITUAL  KINGDOM       47 

minds  are  far  superior  to  it  in  the  scale  of 
power  and  intelligence.  So  the  spirit  of  man 
recognizes  its  own  existence,  and  recognizes 
with  greater  or  lesser  clearness  the  existence 
of  the  spiritual  life,  not  only  in  other  things 
like  itself,  but  recognizes  the  existence  and 
discerns  certain  of  the  attributes  of  God,  the 
greatest  in  the  spiritual  world.  Nor  is  it  any 
argument  against  the  existence  of  spiritual  life 
that  it  is  not  discerned  by  the  infidel,  be  he 
peasant  or  philosopher.  The  animal  does  not 
discern  the  existence  of  the  human  soul  in 
man  because  it  has  none  itself;  no  more  is  it 
possible  for  the  spiritual  life  tO'  be  discerned 
by  those  who  have  it  not.  There  have  been 
not  a  few  who  have  denied  the  existence  of 
love,  and  who  have  been  unable  to  discern  it 
when  present;  nor  could  its  existence  be 
proved  to  one  who  had  it  not  and  was  unwil- 
ling to  believe,  because  every  act  of  love 
might  be  attributed  by  a  willful  mind  to  some 
other  motive.  But  to  the  one  who  feels  love, 
the  feeling  of  it  is  the  highest  possible  proof 
of  it;  mathematics  could  not  render  it  as  cer- 
tain. So  there  may  be  valid  proof  of  the  spir- 
itual life  producing  the  most  absolute  convic- 
tion to  one  capable  of  receiving  it,  while  the 
very  existence  of  the  same  proof  is  denied  by 
others. 


48  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

Life  then  is  not  a  simple  definite  term,  even 
when  considered  most  hterally.  It  signifies 
several  distinct  things — several  kinds  of  life. 
This  distinction  is  brought  to  our  attention 
in  a  thousand  ways  in  nature,  and  is  even 
more  enforced  upon  our  attention  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. The  distinction  which  is  manifested  to 
us  in  nature  shows  the  reality  of  the  difference, 
and  the  stress  laid  upon  it  in  the  Scriptures 
enforces  the  danger  of  disregarding  it.  They 
have  done  an  ill  service  to  mankind  who  have, 
contrary  to  the  light  of  nature  and  the  law  of 
language,  rendered  the  difference  indistinct 
by  fanciful  and  figurative  construction. 

Only  long-continued  forced  interpretations 
of  the  language  of  the  New  Testament  could 
have  succeeded  in  blunting  our  perceptions  to 
the  difference  insisted  upon  between  the  hu- 
man being  and  the  spiritual  being.  Let  the 
New  Testament  be  carefully  read  with  this  dis- 
tinction fairly  before  the  mind  and  the  result 
will  be  startling.  It  will  be  seen  that  only  by 
the  greatest  forcing  of  the  terms  life  and 
eternal  life  can  they  be  made  to  mean  as  in  or- 
dinary religious  parlance,  happiness  and  eternal 
happiness.  The  teaching  is  that  a  new  life  is 
born  within  those  who  believe  in  Christ,  ex- 
isting for  a  time  along  with  the  human  life, 
but  continuing  on  after  the  death  of  the  human 
being. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  KINGDOM       49 

Taking  it  for  granted  that  the  argument 
thus  far  unfolded  justifies  the  acceptance  of 
the  theory  of  a  distinct  spirit  life  as  a  permis- 
sible working  hypothesis,  the  following  chap- 
ters will  be  devoted  to  the  application  of  it  to 
problems  which  both  religion  and  science  con- 
tinually and  persistently  press  upon  the  atten- 
tion of  mankind.  If  it  shall  help  in  their  so- 
lution its  utility  will  be  apparent. 


CHAPTER  IV 

ENTERING   THE    KINGDOM 

The  origin  of  the  principle  of  life  is  wrapt  in 
the  inscrutable  obscurity  of  eternity  past. 
The  doctrine  of  evolution,  instead  of  clearing 
up  the  mystery  of  the  origin  of  life,  merely 
places  the  mystery  further  away.  Once 
granting  the  existence  of  living  creatures 
upon  the  earth,  evolution  affords  a  plausible 
explanation  of  their  development  both  as  re- 
gards variety  and  perfection  within  certain 
Hmits.  But  evolution  does  not  give  even  a 
plausible  explanation  of  the  appearance  of 
life  upon  the  earth;  it  does  not  even  serve  to 
bridge  the  chasm  between  the  different  kinds 
of  life  which  we  find  distinguishing  the  great 
kingdoms.  Professor  Huxley  was  not  even 
satisfied  that  it  gave  a  satisfactory  explana- 
tion of  the  origin  of  species,  although  he  ac- 
cepted it  as  a  good  working  hypothesis.  But 
putting  one  side  the  consideration  of  the  first 
beginnings  of  life,  science  most  satisfactorily 
shows  that  as  things  are  at  present  ordered 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  spontaneous  genera- 


ENTERING  THE  KINGDOM        51 

tion.  The  not-living  never  becomes  alive, 
without  contact  with  previously  existing  life. 
It  is  a  matter  of  common  observation  that  all 
trees  and  plants  come  into  existence  from  the 
living  seeds  of  living  trees  and  plants,  that  all 
animals  come  into  existence  as  the  result  of 
the  life  of  pre-existing  animals.  The  believ- 
ers in  spontaneous  generation  were  therefore 
driven  to  look,  for  proof  of  their  theory,  to 
the  lowest  forms  of  life.  It  was  contended 
that  the  swarming  life  which  soon  comes  into 
existence  in  infusions  of  vegetable  matter  was 
the  result  of  spontaneous  generation;  that  is 
to  say,  that  the  living  creatures  which  devel- 
oped in  infusions  come  into  existence  without 
the  instrumentality  of  pre-existing  living  or- 
ganisms. Many  carefully  conducted  experi- 
ments seemed  to  bear  out  this  theory;  and  for 
years,  spontaneous  generation,  or  abiogenesis, 
held  ground  against  the  theory  of  biogenesis, 
which  holds  that  all  life  comes  from  life,  that 
every  new  living  creature  owes  its  life  to  a 
pre-existing  living  creature.  But  at  the  pre- 
sent day  scarcely  a  well-informed  person  can 
be  found  believing  in  spontaneous  generation. 
The  modern  experimenter,  more  careful  than 
his  predecessor,  and  with  greater  experience, 
has  shown  that  no  form  of  life,  however  low, 
is  ever  generated  when  all  living  organisms 


52  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

are  rigidly  excluded.  Biogenesis  is  now  the 
universally  accepted  doctrine.  Every  living 
creature  of  to-day  owes  its  existence  to  some 
previously  existing  living  creature,  and  that 
one  to  a  preceding  one,  and  so  on  back  and 
back  until  all  trace  is  lost  in  the  obscurity  of 
the  past. 

Therefore  if  the  members  of  the  spiritual 
kingdom  are  possessed  of  a  new  life,  that  is  to 
say,  a  kind  of  life  peculiar  to  itself,  then  no 
member  of  the  animal  or  human  kingdom  can 
gain  entrance  into  the  spiritual  kingdom  by 
merely  perfecting  himself  as  an  animal  or  a 
man,  because  it  is  one  of  the  settled  doctrines 
of  science  that  no  life  comes  into  existence 
except  from  similar  pre-existing  life. 

There  are  two  essential  elements  in  every 
living  being — the  material  out  of  which  the 
living  being  is  built  up,  and  the  vital  force 
which  builds  up  the  material  into  a  living  be- 
ing. Every  living  thing,  whether  tree,  animal 
or  man,  is  momentarily  bringing  the  vital  force 
which  animates  it  into  contact  with  the  not- 
living  materials  about  it  As  these  not-living 
materials  are  touched  by  the  vital  force  they 
become  alive;  but  the  non-living  materials 
have  absolutely  no  power  to  lift  themselves 
into  life.  The  life-giving  impulse  must  come 
from  the  higher  kingdom.     There  is  an  im- 


ENTERING  THE  KINGDOM        53 

passable  gulf  between  the  living  and  the  not- 
living  as  regards  the  not-living. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  material  of  every 
kingdom  is  dead  as  regards  the  next  higher 
kingdom,  inasmuch  as  it  is  without  power  to 
gain  entrance  into  the  higher  kingdom;  only 
when  the  higher  life  touches  and  quickens  it 
is  it  made  alive  with  the  life  of  the  higher  crea- 
ture. The  plant  by  means  of  its  vital  force 
lays  hold  of  the  dead  oxygen,  hydrogen  and 
carbon  and  they  become  alive  as  a  part  of  the 
living  plant.  Thus  the  dead  elements  of  the 
mineral  kingdom  become  built  into  and  form 
a  part  of  the  living  plant.  So  again  the  ani- 
mal, which  is  not  able  to  live  upon  the  inor- 
ganic elements  which  form  the  food  of  the 
plant,  brings  into  contact  with  its  own  vital 
forces  the  complex  materials  furnished  by  the 
vegetable  kingdom,  and  the  vegetable  matter 
of  yesterday  becomes  a  part  of  the  animal  of 
to-day.  The  vital  force  of  the  animal  has  rais- 
ed the  component  parts  of  the  plant  into  a  still 
higher  plane  of  life.  In  a  similar  way  the 
human  soul  requires  for  support  of  its  life  the 
materials  produced  by  the  animal  organism. 
To  be  sure,  the  animal  is  not  confined  to  or 
dependent  upon  any  one  plant,  while  man's 
soul  and  body,  as  these  words  are  commonly 
used,  are  so  inextricably  united  as  to  form  but 


54  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

one  individual.  But  it  would  seem  as  though 
this  union  of  the  one  member  of  the  lower 
kingdom  with  the  member  of  the  higher  king- 
dom depending  upon  it  for  means  of  existence, 
was  merely  a  different  manifestation  of  the 
same  principle  of  existence.  And  it  would 
seem  but  a  still  further  manifestation  of 
the  same  principle  if  it  were  shown  that 
the  new  spiritual  creature,  the  member  of  a 
yet  higher  kingdom,  might  be  dependent  for 
existence  upon  the  organs  and  functions  and 
products  of  the  human  being. 

But  in  all  cases  the  plant  must  needs  come 
into  existence  from  a  pre-existing  plant,  the 
animal  from  the  animal,  and  man  from  man; 
no  member  of  one  kingdom  is  created  ex- 
cept by  means  of  the  communication  of  the 
life  of  the  kingdom  through  a  pre-existing 
member  of  it.  In  like  manner  the  new  spirit- 
ual creature  could  never  come  into  existence 
except  by  virtue  of  the  vital  force  of  the  living 
Spirit. 

While  speaking  of  the  passage  of  the  mem- 
bers of  one  kingdom  into  higher  kingdoms, 
and  the  building  up  of  the  products  of  one 
kind  of  life  into  the  living  creatures  posses- 
sing other  kinds  of  life,  little  attention  has 
been  given  to  the  creation  of  new  individuals. 
The  personal  element  has  been  almost  entirely 


ENTERING  THE  KINGDOM        55 

ignored.  The  moment  we  consider  indi- 
viduals we  are  brought  in  contact  with  a  not 
greater  but  a  different  mystery  of  Hfe.  The 
individual  of  all  the  higher  orders  of  beings 
must  needs  be  born.  Once  in  the  world  of 
the  living,  the  vital  force  of  the  individual 
takes  unto  itself  and  makes  alive  the  unliving 
material  about  it,  and  as  constantly  throws  off 
from  itself  the  erstwhile  living  to  become  once 
more  dead.  It  is  common  knowledge  that 
the  elements  of  the  body  are  continually 
changing.  So  that  life  has  been  communi- 
cated to  new  matter  of  the  lower  kingdoms 
from  day  to  day,  and  thus  in  a  sense  new  life 
has  been  propagated.  But  in  order  to  pass 
on  this  current  of  life,  flowing  as  it  were  in 
the  individual,  to  a  new  individual,  through 
whom  in  turn  it  shall  flow  to  still  another  new 
individual,  birth  is  necessary. 

In  the  light  of  these  very  ordinary  truths 
of  nature  how  clear  is  the  answer  of  Jesus  to 
Nicodemus,  ''  Verily,  verily  I  say  unto  thee, 
except  a  man  be  bom  again  [or  as  it  is  in  the 
margin,  from  above]  he  cannot  see  the  king- 
dom of  God."  This  is  merely  stating  the  ex- 
perience of  mankind  as  regards  the  creation 
of  new  individuals  —  they  must  be  born. 
Christ  is  not  excluding  any  from  his  king- 
dom, he  is  merely  indicating  the  mode  of 
entering. 


56  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

These  further  truths  of  biology  Christ  next 
enunciates  to  Nicodemus,  in  reply  to  the  lat- 
ter's  objection,  ''  How  can  a  man  be  born 
when  he  is  old?  Can  he  enter  a  second  time 
into  his  mother's  womb  and  be  born?" 
Jesus  answered,  "  Verily,  verily  I  say  unto 
thee,  except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  the 
Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God.  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh; 
and  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit." 
Here  are  set  forth  the  fundamental  truths 
that  life  comes  only  from  the  living;  that  the 
creature  to  whom  life  is  communicated  is  like 
the  living  being  communicating  it,  and  that 
the  life-giving  impulse  must  come  from  above. 
The  life-giving  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God 
touches  man,  and  he  in  turn  is  born  into  the 
kingdom  of  God  and  becomes  a  living  spirit. 
No  amount  of  effort  on  the  part  of  man  can 
gain  him  entrance  into  the  spiritual  kingdom, 
without  the  life-giving  touch  of  the  Spirit. 
As  well  might  the  sand  of  the  soil  or  the  car- 
bon of  the  air  hope  to  become  alive  without 
contact  with  the  living  plant;  as  well  the  grass 
of  the  field  expect  to  become  animal  without 
contact  with  the  grazing  cattle,  as  that  man 
should  expect  to  become  spirit  without  the 
touch  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  words  of  Christ  to  Nicodemus  seem  the 


ENTERING  THE  KINGDOM        57 

plainest  of  the  plain.  There  is  nothing  to 
indicate  the  figurative  or  the  allegorical. 
''That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh." 
How  could  the  ordinary  generation  of  indi- 
viduals be  more  tersely  and  comprehensively 
put?  Rabbi  and  peasant  could  understand 
these  words.  And  the  second  statement  is 
no  less  plain,  ''  That  which  is  born  of  the 
Spirit  is  spirit."  Birth  necessarily  implies  a 
new  individual ;  not  an  old  individual  changed, 
be  the  change  never  so  great,  but  a  new  being, 
a  new  person,  a  new  creature.  Christ  said  with- 
out qualification  there  must  be  a  new  birth, 
that  the  new  birth  was  from  above.  The  new 
creature  which  enters  the  kingdom  of  God  is 
not,  then,  the  old  creature  changed,  but  a 
being  endowed  with  life  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
who  possesses  a  life  which  is  not  the  life  of 
mankind.  This  in  the  inimitable  language  of 
John  is  driven  home  with  blows  most  direct: 
"  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh  and 
that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit." 

But  not  that  there  are  two  parental  beings 
involved  in  the  birth  of  the  spiritual  man. 
So  far  as  we  are  informed  by  the  Scriptures — 
and  we  have  no  other  source  of  information — 
all  the  members  of  the  heavenly  kingdom  are 
created  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  acting 
upon   human   beings;   therefore   the    sons   of 


58  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

God,  as  they  are  designated,  result  from  the 
union  of  the  Holy  Spirit  with  humanity. 

The  beings  which  God  created  in  his  own 
image  would  be,  according  to  biological 
science,  the  only  ones  capable  of  having  their 
lives  united  with  the  life  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to 
produce  members  of  the  spirit  kingdom.  It  is 
well  known  that  living  creatures  very  unlike 
each  other  never  mate  and  never  propagate; 
therefore  man,  the  only  creature  having  like- 
ness to  God,  is  alone  capable  of  being  one  of 
the  parents  of  the  sons  of  God.  In  this  connec- 
tion the  saying  of  Christ  must  be  recalled, 
that  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  they  neither 
marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage.  The  gene- 
ration of  the  life  of  the  heavenly  kingdom 
and  the  relationships  of  its  members  must  not 
be  supposed  to  correspond  in  all  respects  with 
what  we  see  on  the  earth. 

Biology  teaches  us  that  the  new  individual 
is  not  wholly  like  either  of  its  parents,  but 
partakes  of  the  characteristics  of  both;  we 
should  expect  therefore  to  find  the  new  spirit- 
ual creature  partaking  both  of  its  heavenly 
and  its  earthly  parentage.  This  was  true  with 
regard  to  the  only  perfect  member  of  the  race 
that  the  world  has  ever  seen;  Christ  the  first- 
born, the  elder  brother,  was  the  Son  of  God 
and  the  Son  of  Man;  he  was  both  human  and 


ENTERING  THE  KINGDOM        59 

divine.  The  Christian  knows  that  he  is 
human,  that  he  is  the  son  of  man,  but  he  also 
beHeves  the  Scriptures  that  he  is  Hkewise  the 
son  of  God,  the  younger  brother  of  Christ 
and  a  joint  heir  with  him. 

One  of  the  tests  to  determine  whether  any 
Hving  creature  belongs  to  a  species  or  to  a 
kingdom  is  that  it  possesses  the  faculties  of 
the  members  of  that  species  or  of  that  king- 
dom. Christ  not  only  says,  in  speaking  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  that  a  man  must  be  born 
again  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  but 
he  also  says  that  this  is  necessary  in  order  to 
even  see  the  kingdom  of  God.  John  also 
says,  ''  Now  are  we  the  sons  of  God,  and  it 
doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,  but  we 
know  that  when  he  shall  appear  we  shall  be 
Hke  him;  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is."  In- 
asmuch as  "  no  man  hath  seen  God  at  any 
time,"  and  since  those  who  are  born  of  the 
Spirit  see  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  see 
Christ,  the  new  spiritual  creature  has  faculties 
to  discern  his  own  species  which  place  him  in 
a  dififerent  kingdom  from  the  kingdom  of 
man,  the  members  of  the  former  having  pow- 
ers which  transcend  those  of  the  human  being 
as  much  as  his  powers  in  turn  transcend  those 
of  the  brute  creation. 


CHAPTER  V 


IMMORTALITY 


The  characteristic  of  the  new  spiritual  crea- 
ture which  most  excites  the  attention  of  man- 
kind is  immortahty.  There  is  not  a  word  in 
the  Bible  directly  to  the  effect  that  men  are 
immortal;  the  Scriptures  may  be  searched  in 
vain  for  one  unequivocal  statement  that  man 
is  possessed  of  eternal  life.  Science  is  silent 
on  the  subject;  it  simply  does  not  negative  the 
possibility.  The  Bible,  however,  does  state 
in  the  most  unequivocal  terms  that  *'  the  soul 
that  sinneth  it  shall  die,"  and  in  a  multitude 
of  places,  that  the  great  overshadowing  re- 
ward of  the  Christian  is  eternal  life.  It  must 
certainly  be  admitted  that  if  the  Christian's 
inheritance  is  eternal  life,  there  is  a  powerful 
implication  that  those  who  are  not  Christians 
will  not  inherit  it. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  belief  that 
men  continue  to  live  in  a  future  state  is  well- 
nigh  universal  among  mankind,  and  so  far  as 
we  are  able  to  learn  always  has  been.  This 
almost  universal  creed,  of  the  immortality  of 


IMMORTALITY  6i 

the  human  soul,  was  very  early  adopted  by 
the  Christian  Church,  and  for  many  hundreds 
of  years  passed  almost  unchallenged.  From 
the  Christian  Church  this  creed  passed  to  the 
Christian  world,  so  that  during  the  Middle 
Ages  the  immortality  of  the  soul  was  almost 
as  universally  accepted  among  all  the  civi- 
lized nations  as  the  existence  of  man  himself. 
Able  writers  have  drawn  from  this  "  intuitive 
belief "  an  argument  in  favor  of  the  inherent 
immortality  of  the  members  of  the  human 
race.  To  many  this  "  intuitive  belief "  of  the 
human  race  is  proof  positive,  not  only  of  the 
existence  of  the  soul  as  distinct  from  the  body, 
but  of  its  immortality.  So  great  force  has 
this  argument  of  intuitive  belief  been  supposed 
to  have,  that  disbelievers  in  the  immortality  of 
the  soul  have  with  great  labor  sought  to  show 
that  the  belief  in  a  future  life  does  not  exist 
among  certain  peoples.  Whether  this  belief 
is  indeed  absolutely  universal  or  not  is  still  an 
unsettled  question  in  the  minds  of  some  in- 
vestigators. But  belief  in  the  existence  of  a 
fact  does  not  insure  the  existence  of  that  fact. 
The  belief  that  the  earth  was  flat  did  not  make 
it  so;  that  it  was  a  universally  accepted  theory 
that  the  sun  went  around  the  earth  had  no 
influence  upon  the  rotation  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  in  obedience  to  the  law  of  gravity;  the 


62  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

earth  revolved  around  the  sun  and  the  moon 
around  the  earth  regardless  of  the  opinions 
of  mankind  on  the  subject.  Belief  has  indeed 
a  mighty  efficiency  in  determining  results  de- 
pending upon  human  action,  but  not  in  de- 
termining the  existence  or  non-existence  of 
facts  independent  of  human  action.  A  man's 
belief  in  whether  he  is  in  a  dying  state  or  no 
may  have  a  pov^erful  influence  on  the  deter- 
mination whether  or  no  that  be  his  state,  but 
his  belief  as  to  whether  or  no  another  man  be 
dead  or  not  can  have  no  effect  in  determining 
whether  that  other  man  be  at  that  moment 
dead  or  alive.  It  seems  hard  in  the  face  of 
our  universal  experience  to  conceive  how  the 
mere  belief  of  the  human  race  can  have  aught 
to  do  in  determining  whether  the  human  soul 
is  mortal  or  immortal;  there  seems  to  be  no 
certain  connection  between  belief  and  the 
reality. 

The  Church  has  been  a  loser  by  just  the 
amount  of  energy  expended  in  the  conflict 
over  the  inherent  immortality  of  the  soul. 
Not  obeying  the  spirit  of  the  instructions  of 
Christ  to  render  unto  God  the  things  that  are 
God's  and  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are 
Caesar's,  the  leaders  of  the  Church  have 
sought  not  only  to  teach  religion,  which  was 
their  own  proper  function,  but  to  teach  science 


IMMORTALITY  63 

and  philosophy,  which  belonged  to  others. 
It  seems  so  great  folly,  and  so  great  waste  of 
strength  and  energy,  for  the  Church  during 
the  centuries  to  maintain  as  a  part  of  essential 
religious  doctrine  that  which  is  purely  a  mat- 
ter of  science.  What  had  the  opinions  of 
Copernicus,  Galileo  and  scores  of  other  scien- 
tific men  to  do  with  religion?  and  yet  the 
Church  has  expended  untold  energies  in  fight- 
ing losing  battles  in  the  domains  of  mathe- 
matics, physics,  geology,  and  other  sciences 
physical  and  metaphysical.  If  a  doctrine  be 
indeed  contrary  to  Scripture,  let  the  Church 
fight  against  it,  but  one  would  think  that  the 
countless  humiliating  defeats  of  the  past 
would  render  the  defenders  of  the  Church 
cautious  in  maintaining  as  essential  elements 
of  the  Christian  faith  their  mere  inferences 
where  the  Scriptures  are  silent. 

It  may  be  asked  in  all  seriousness,  is  not  the 
position  which  theology  takes  on  the  inherent 
immortality  of  the  soul  another  one  of  those 
positions  within  the  domain  of  science  which, 
after  the  expenditure  of  incalculable  energy, 
must  be  given  up  in  the  end  as  lying  without 
its  jurisdiction?  If  the  Scriptures  teach  that 
the  human  race  is  an  immortal  race,  then  the 
vast  amount  of  time  and  thought  and  energy 
spent    in    maintaining    the    doctrine    is    well 


64         THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

spent;  but  if  it  is  a  matter  upon  which  the 
Scriptures  are  silent,  or  at  most  make  state- 
ments from  which  only  doubtful  inferences 
may  be  drawn;  and  if  the  Christian  is  in  no- 
wise concerned  whether  the  doctrine  be 
proved  or  disproved,  then  the  Church  should 
refuse  to  any  longer  expend  its  energies  in 
profitless  combat.  It  should  also  abandon 
the  conflict  from  other  principles  than  those 
of  religious  economy;  many  an  army  has  suf- 
fered defeat  by  the  loss  of  a  non-essential  po- 
sition, which  might  have  been  and  ought  to 
have  been  abandoned  in  advance.  Defeat  is 
contagious,  and  sometimes  it  matters  not 
whether  the  contest  was  over  a  large  matter  or 
a  small  one.  It  discredits  the  Church  to  have 
its  disciples  maintain  that  it  is  contrary  to  the 
Scriptures  to  teach  that  the  earth  is  round  and 
then  have  actual  experience  show  that  the 
teaching  is  true.  In  the  absence  of  express 
declarations  or  necessary  inference  from  the 
Scriptures,  the  inherent  immortality  of  the 
soul  is  a  question  for  science,  not  for  religion 
to  decide.  And  let  it  be  here  noted  that  the 
question  of  the  soul's  temporary  existence 
after  the  death  of  the  body  is  entirely  dififerent 
from  that  of  its  immortality.  It  is  the  latter 
and  not  the  former  which  is  the  subject  of  the 
present  argument. 


IMMORTALITY  65 

The  Bible  has  Httle  to  say,  if  anything,  of 
the  immortahty  of  the  human  soul,  but  it  is 
full  of  express  declarations  that  the  believer 
shall  inherit  eternal  life.  Therefore  the 
Church  is  interested  in  defending  the  doctrine 
of  the  immortality  of  the  Christian,  and  may 
well  leave  the  fate  of  the  unbeliever  in  the 
awful  obscurity  where  it  is  left  by  the  Word 
of  God.  Christ  brought  Hfe  and  immortality 
to  light,  and  pointed  the  way  to  them.  Surely 
if  life  and  immortality  on  the  one  side  and 
their  negation  on  the  other  be  not  incentive 
enough,  it  may  again  be  asserted  that  though 
one  rose  from  the  dead  and  detailed  all  the 
mysteries  of  the  hereafter,  men  would  not  be 
persuaded.  Before  Christ  appeared  upon  the 
earth,  man's  future  state  was  an  unsolved 
mystery;  beyond  death  all  was  gloom  and 
obscurity,  and  the  gloom  and  obscurity  was 
full  of  unnamed  terror.  When  Christ  came, 
he  stated  in  the  most  unequivocal  words  that 
the  cause  of  his  coming  to  earth  was  that 
those  who  should  believe  in  him  might  have 
eternal  life — immortality.  If  the  race  at  large 
enjoyed  this  inestimable  boon,  how  purpose- 
less, according  to  his  own  words,  must 
Christ's  coming  have  been!  But  on  the  con- 
trary, if  the  human  being,  although  enjoying 
a  very  high  kind  of  life,  was  not  endowed  with 


66  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

that  kind  of  life  which  would  be  eternal;  and 
if  in  order  to  secure  eternal  life  it  was  neces- 
sary to  be  born  into  a  new  kingdom,  and  be- 
come a  new  creature,  endowed  with  a  new  Hfe, 
of  which  immortality  was  a  distinguishing 
characteristic;  and  if  the  way  to  it  could  only 
be  brought  to  light  by  God  himself  manifest 
in  the  flesh,  then  the  coming  of  Christ  was 
full  of  purpose. 

The  doctrine  of  the  inherent  immortality 
of  the  human  soul  inherited  from  the  heathen 
world,  once  adopted  by  the  Church,  led  to  the 
necessity  of  interpreting  the  words  "  life  "  and 
"  death  "  all  through  the  New  Testament  figu- 
ratively, although  an  inspection  of  the  Scrip- 
tures themselves  gives  no  warrant  for  such 
construction.  What  could  be  plainer,  to  the 
ordinary  reader,  than  the  words  of  Christ 
above  quoted  if  left  to  his  own  understanding? 
What  person  of  intelligence,  unwarped  by 
theological  teaching,  would  ever  dream  of 
here  interpreting  ''  eternal  Hfe "  as  "  eternal 
happiness,"  or  of  interpreting  the  word 
"  perish  "  by  the  words  **  be  miserable  "  ? 
Let  us  paraphrase  St.  John  to  accord  with  the 
interpretation  given  to  it  of  necessity,  if  this 
figurative  interpretation  be  adopted :  *'  For 
God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only 
begotten    son,    that   whosoever    believeth    on 


IMMORTALITY  (ij 

him  should  not  be  miserable  forever  but 
should  have  eternal  happiness."  Those  who 
would  so  turn  words  from  their  ordinary 
meaning  should  have  good  warrant,  particu- 
larly when  it  concerns  a  matter  of  life  and 
death.  Nowhere  does  one  find  the  word 
''  perish "  to  mean  ''  be  miserable,"  or  the 
word  "  life  "  to  mean  "  happiness,"  when  there 
is  not  a  word  in  the  context  to  give  the 
slightest  indication  that  the  words  are  to  be 
taken  in  any  but  their  ordinary  sense. 

The  great  purpose  of  Christ's  coming, 
therefore,  according  to  his  own  declaration, 
was- to  bring  life  and  immortality  to  light; 
the  one  great  object  he  set  before  the  human 
race  was  eternal  life.  The  reason  of  this  was 
set  forth  by  Christ  himself  when  he  said, 
*'  What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  shall  gain 
the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul?"  and 
again,  "  What  will  a  man  not  give  for  his 
life?  "  Nor  is  it  strange  to  the  thinking  mind 
that  Christ  should  have  held  up  life  as  the  one 
thing  necessary,  because  of  what  interest  are 
the  glories  of  heaven,  or  the  happiness  of 
those  who  pass  eternity  in  the  presence  of 
God,  to  those  who  will  not  be  alive  to  per- 
ceive and  enjoy  them?  With  life  a  being 
may  be  miserable,  but  he  certainly  cannot 
enjoy  happiness  without  it;  therefore  the  loss 


68  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

of  life  means  the  loss  of  all  else.  To  place 
before  the  sentient  being  the  glorious  happi- 
ness of  eternity,  together  with  the  knowledge 
that  he  cannot  live  to  enjoy  it,  is  hell  indeed, 
as  the  word  hell  is  commonly  understood. 
To  bring  home  to  the  intelligence  of  a  man 
the  fact  that  there  is  a  future  state  in  which 
beings  who  enter  it  will  enjoy  such  "happi- 
ness as  the  eye  of  man  hath  not  seen  or  his 
ear  heard  or  has  entered  the  mind  of  man  to 
conceive,"  and  then  to  bring  home  likewise 
the  realization  that  this  life,  although  once 
within  reach,  is  not  for  him,  because  his  life 
will  soon  become  extinct,  is  to  provide  the 
materials  for  a  regret  and  anguish  not  to  be 
expressed  in  words.  If  these  two  realizations, 
that  of  the  possibilities  of  eternal  life  and  the 
certainty  of  death,  are  to  be  the  fate  of  those 
who  are  not  saved,  little  wonder  that  they  will 
call  upon  the  rocks  to  fall  upon  them,  and 
that  there  "  will  be  weeping  and  wailing  and 
gnashing  of  teeth."  The  prospect  of  the  loss 
of  life  under  such  circumstances  would  be  a 
grief  not  to  be  borne.  It  seems  logical 
enough,  too,  if  one  would  sacrifice  everything 
for  a  life  of  three-score  years  and  ten,  he 
should  consider  the  loss  of  an  eternity  of  life 
as  a  punishment  great  beyond  the  possibility 
of  even  feeling,  with  his  present  human  facul- 


IMMORTALITY  69 

ties,  to  say  nothing  of  describing  it.  To 
bring  to  light  eternal  life  and  to  point  the  way 
to  it  to  the  human  race  seems  a  mission  not 
unworthy  of  even  the  Son  of  God. 

All  must  agree  that  eternal  life  is  the  all- 
important,  all-absorbing  reward  held  out  by 
Christianity  to  its  disciples.  No  one  can 
read  the  New  Testament  and  dispute  it.  To 
sustain  its  position,  therefore,  Christianity 
must  prove  that  its  adherents  have  immortal 
life,  because  if  this  be  not  the  truth,  all  its 
other  rewards  sink  into  contemptible  insig- 
nificance, and  then  Christians  become  indeed 
''  of  all  men  most  miserable." 

The  possession  of  immortality  by  believers 
may  be  proved  in  one  of  two  ways:  first,  by 
proving  that  the  human  soul  is  immortal  per 
se,  or  secondly,  by  proving  that  while  the  soul 
may  be  mortal,  immortality  is  conferred  by 
God  on  believers.  The  proof  of  the  first  po- 
sition, that  the  soul  of  the  human  being  is 
immortal  per  se,  at  once  does  away  with  the 
great  reward  promised  by  Christianity — eter- 
nal Hfe,  so  its  adherents  add  the  qualification 
that  to  the  unbeliever  eternal  life  is  eternal 
misery,  and  that  the  real  reward  of  the  Chris- 
tian is  not  eternal  life,  but  an  eternal  happy 
life.  Regarding  the  second  position,  that  hu- 
man beings  are  mortal,  but  that  God  confers 


70  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

immortality  upon  the  believer,  two  views  may 
be  taken ;  first,  that  the  immortality  consists  of 
the  eternal  prolongation  of  the  present  life, 
which  is  not  here  contended  for;  or  secondly, 
that  the  immortality  consists  in  the  endowing 
of  the  human  being  with  a  new  kind  of  life 
having  the  characteristic  of  immortality.  The 
first  doctrine,  which  might  be  called  the 
present  theological  one,  may  be  thus  briefly 
stated:  the  human  soul  is  immortal  per  se,  and 
is  destined  to  life  forever  in  unspeakable  hap- 
piness or  unspeakable  misery,  according  as 
it  has  believed  in  Christ  or  not.  The  second 
doctrine  is  that  the  human  soul  is  mortal,  but 
that  there  is  a  new  life,  characterized  by 
immortality,  obtained  only  through  faith  in 
Christ. 

The  holders  of  the  theological  view  are 
driven  to  the  maintenance  of  the  inherent 
immortality  of  the  soul,  because  their  whole 
theory  of  Christianity  must  stand  or  fall  with 
it;  they  have  no  alternative.  Since  the  expe- 
rience derived  from  the  contemplation  of 
things  natural  affords  so  little  light  upon  the 
state  of  the  soul  after  death,  and  since  the 
appearance  of  things  strongly  indicates  that 
death  ends  the  existence  of  all  terrestrial 
creatures,  the  believer  in  the  theological 
doctrine   turns   naturally   for   the   proof   of  it 


IMMORTALITY  71 

to  the  Bible.  Here,  since  man's  survival 
after  death  is  so  much  against  appearances, 
we  should  expect  a  doctrine  of  this  import- 
ance, if  it  be  true,  to  be  stated  with  the  most 
unequivocal  distinctness.  But  we  are  disap- 
pointed; there  is  no  such  distinct  statement 
certainly  in  the  Old  Testament. 

To  those  who  are  thoroughly  imbued  with 
the  teachings  of  the  New  Testament  and  with 
the  thoughts  and  aspirations  of  the  modern 
world,  it  seems  more  than  passing  strange 
that  through  all  the  centuries  of  God's  revela- 
tions to  the  Old  Testament  peoples  he  never 
set  forth  the  future  life  as  the  reward  of  faith 
and  obedience.  To  Abraham  and  Isaac  and 
Jacob  his  promise  was  not  immortality  for 
themselves,  but  his  presence  with  them  dur- 
ing their  earthly  lives,  and  a  multitude  of 
descendants,  who  should  inherit  the  land  of 
their  sojourn  and  through  whom  the  nations 
of  the  earth  should  be  blest.  To  the  nation 
of  the  children  of  Israel  the  promise  was  of 
peace  and  prosperity  to  themselves  and  their 
descendants,  in  the  earthly  land  of  promise. 
The  prophets  preached  the  blessings  of  obe- 
dience and  the  calamities  of  rebellion,  but 
both  the  peace  and  the  calamity  were  of  this 
world  and  not  of  the  next.  Even  when 
Christ  appeared  upon  the  earth  he  found  the 


72  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

people  expecting  a  Messiah  who  would  bring 
them  power  and  prosperity  as  a  nation  upon 
the  earth.  Not  that  the  Old  Testament  has 
not  many  a  glimmer  of  light  which  dimly 
reveals  a  future  state,  but  the  light  is  fitful 
and  the  glimpses  but  momentary.  The 
burden  of  the  Old  Testament  is  the  reward  of 
the  righteous  and  the  punishment  of  the 
wicked,  in  this  present  world.  Obedience  to 
God  meant  flocks  and  herds,  peace  at  home 
and  power  abroad;  and  disobedience  meant 
famine  and  plague,  invasion  and  captivity. 
One  may  read  whole  chapters  and  books  of 
the  Old  Testament  without  even  an  allusion 
which  would  lead  him  to  suppose  that  man 
was  interested  in  anything  except  this  present 
life,  its  joys  and  sorrows,  its  rewards  and 
punishments. 

The  children  of  Israel  were  not  cultivated 
up  to  the  New  Testament  standard;  they  were 
immature  in  their  ideas.  Like  all  uncultivated 
peoples,  of  that  and  ah  other  ages,  and  Hke 
the  ignorant  even  in  civilized  lands,  the  future 
was  of  almost  infinitesimal  consequence  as 
compared  with  the  present.  The  savage  will 
gorge  and  waste  and  sleep  in  the  day  of 
plenty,  though  it  means  starvation  later  on. 
Provision  for  the  future  is  a  late  development 
both  of  nations  and  of  individuals;  only  when 


IMMORTALITY  73 

a  certain  stage  of  cultivation  has  been  reached 
are  people  willing  to  suffer  present  pains  for 
the  sake  of  future  enjoyments.  Abraham, 
Isaac,  Jacob  and  Moses  were  men  of  minds 
far  above  the  ordinary  level  of  humanity;  but 
the  Israelites  led  by  Moses  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt  were  a  race  of  ignorant  slaves.  Their 
ignorance  and  degradation  were  doubtless 
great  almost  beyond  our  power  of  compre- 
hension. The  spiritual  religion  of  the  New 
Testament  would  have  been  to  such  as  pearls 
before  swine;  they  could  neither  have  com- 
prehended it  nor  have  been  affected  by  it. 
Esau  who  sold  his  birthright,  which  was  fu- 
ture, on  account  of  an  empty  stomach,  which 
was  present,  is  a  type  of  uncultured  man.  It 
took  centuries  of  schooling,  wherein  the  sword 
was  the  emblem  of  authority,  to  fit  the  chosen 
people  for  the  coming  of  Christ.  It  is  there- 
fore not  to  be  wondered  at  that  we  see  but 
faint  reference  to  the  future  life  in  the  records 
of  the  Old  Testament  times.  The  most  that 
can  be  said  is,  that  it  is  plainly  intimated  that 
the  servants  of  God  have  a  life  beyond  the 
grave,  and  that  it  is  a  happy  life;  and  as  re- 
gards the  rest  of  mankind,  there  is  a  possible 
intimation  of  a  survival  after  death  in  an  in- 
ferior state.  But  the  whole  matter  of  the 
future  life  is  so  faint  and  dim  in  the  Old  Testa- 


74  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

ment  that  it  may  be  said  with  almost  hteral 
exactness  that  Christ  brought  hfe  and  immor- 
tality to  light. 

But  coming  to  the  New  Testament,  we  do 
not  lack  full  and  explicit  statements.  We  are 
told  as  in  the  Old  Testament  that  there  are 
beings  of  a  different  order  from  the  human 
race,  possessing  a  different  life;  "  Before 
Abraham  was  I  am,"  said  Christ;  an  angel 
gave  God's  commands  to  Joseph;  beings  from 
another  world  heralded  the  birth  of  Christ  to 
the  watching  shepherds;  Christ  recognized  a 
prince  of  devils;  he  declared  that  twelve  leg- 
ions of  angels  were  at  his  command  if  he 
wished.  But  not  only  did  he  plainly  set  forth 
that  there  was  another  world,  inhabited  by 
different  beings,  but  he  told  his  disciples,  in 
the  plainest  of  terms,  that  it  was  within  their 
power  to  obtain  an  entrance  into  that  other 
world,  and  that  the  object  of  his  coming  to 
earth  was  that  man  should  not  perish  but  have 
eternal  life.  He  used  no  ambiguous  language 
about  this,  neither  did  he  only  speak  in  para- 
bles concerning  it;  but  he  spoke  in  plain  set 
terms,  and  made  the  most  explicit  declara- 
tions that  those  who  believed  in  him  should 
live  forever.  If  there  were  any  words  capa- 
ble of  being  understood  by  those  to  whom 
they   were   addressed   they   were    such    plain 


IMMORTALITY  75 

everyday    words    as    ''life,"    "eternal"    and 
"  forever." 

Nor  are  we  left  in  doubt  as  to  whether 
these  plain  declarations  on  the  part  of 
Christ  were  understood  by  those  to  whom 
they  were  addressed.  When  Christ  asked  if 
his  disciples  would  also  leave  him,  Peter  made 
the  pertinent  reply,  "To  whom  shall  we  go? 
thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life."  Christ 
not  only  revealed  the  fact  that  there  was  an 
eternal  life,  but  he  offered  that  as  a  reward  of 
the  believer ;  it  was  the  inducement  to  come  to 
him.  Christ  taught  that  it  was  an  object  of 
such  transcendent  importance  that  all  else  was 
as  nothing  when  compared  with  it;  it  was  the 
hidden  treasure,  the  pearl  of  great  price,  for 
which  a  man  should  be  willing  to  give  up  all 
else.  The  disciples  and  their  immediate  fol- 
lowers took  the  same  view;  the  things  of  this 
earth  were  to  them  things  not  to  be  consid- 
ered in  comparison  with  the  great  object  of 
the  attainment  of  immortality.  The  writings 
of  the  Apostles  glow  with  this  same  thought; 
poverty,  hunger,  thirst,  fatigue,  imprisonment 
and  death  on  the  one  side,  ease  and  comfort 
and  bodily  enjoyment  on  the  other  were  veri- 
est trifles  less  than  air  to  these  men,  while 
they  sought  to  carry  the  news  of  this  wonder- 
ful possibility  to  their  fellow-mortals.     While 


76  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

the  news  that  eternal  life  was  to  be  had  for 
the  asking  needed  messengers,  how  could 
these  men  attend  to  ordinary  things? 

But  note  that  while  this  great  treasure  could 
be  had  for  the  asking,  it  could  not  be  had  with- 
out the  asking.  It  did  not  belong  to  a  man  as 
of  right;  it  was  to  be  had  only  by  the  believers 
in  Christ,  therefore  no  pains  were  too  great 
to  bring  the  knowledge  of  Christ  to  the  peo- 
ple. Immortality  did  not  belong  to  mankind, 
but  could  be  obtained.  Those  who  did  not 
believe  were  dead — were  destined  to  destruc- 
tion. The  apostles  and  their  followers, 
"  knowing  the  terror  of  the  Lord,  persuaded 
men."  Death  lay  before  each  man.  Death 
was  a  terrible  thing,  and  the  apostles  strove 
to  persuade  men  to  avoid  it.  Thus  far  is 
plain  statement;  there  is  such  thing  as  eternal 
life,  and  believers  in  Christ  may  obtain  it; 
those  who  do  not  believe  in  Christ  are  already 
doomed  to  destruction;  without  belief  in 
Christ  they  will  perish.  But  the  plain  state- 
ments are  all  on  the  face  of  them  against 
universal  immortality.  There  are  indeed  par- 
ables and  dark  sayings  from  which  it  may 
perhaps  be  inferred  that  human  beings  as  a 
class  survive  death;  the  length  of  the  survival 
is  not  given,  and,  as  before  intimated,  a  tem- 
porary existence  after  death  does  not  in  any- 


IMMORTALITY  JJ 

wise  conflict  with  the  view  of  immortaHty 
here  contended  for.  The  beUever  in  immor- 
taHty has  many  expHcit  statements  to  confirm 
his  theory,  if  he  confines  himself  to  expres- 
sions concerning  the  followers  of  Christ. 
With  regard  to  the  race  at  large,  he  must 
resort  to  inferences  more  or  less  strained,  and 
must  construe  many  most  explicit  passages 
concerning  the  "dying  "  and  "  perishing  "  and 
"  destroying  "  of  the  unbelievers  in  a  figura- 
tive sense.  Therefore  it  may  be  stated  that 
a  searching  of  the  Bible  reveals  no  such  plain 
statement  concerning  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  per  se  as  should  be  expected  from  its  im- 
portance if  true;  that  there  are  passages  from 
which  this  doctrine  may  be  inferred  if  taken 
by  themselves ;  and  that  it  involves  a  figurative 
interpretation  of  many  passages  which  if 
taken  literally  would  be  fatal  to  it. 

But  if  all  human  beings  live  forever,  then 
the  reward  of  the  Christian  is  not  life  at  all, 
but  something  else.  That  something  else  the 
common  view  says  is  happiness.  This  re- 
quires a  figurative  but  not  impossible  use  of 
the  word  life;  of  course  if  it  be  taken  for 
granted  that  the  human  soul  is  immortal,  then 
according  to  well-known  rules  of  construction 
it  would  be  necessary  to  give  to  life  not  Its 
ordinary    and    commonly    received    meaning, 


78  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

but  one  which  will  harmonize  with  the  ideas 
in  connection  with  which  it  is  used.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  the  words  die,  death, 
destroy,  perish.  If  the  soul  be  indeed  immor- 
tal and  cannot  die  and  cannot  be  destroyed 
and  cannot  perish,  then  these  words  must  be 
given  a  figurative  sense  which  will  not  make 
nonsense  in  the  connection  in  which  they  are 
used;  and  under  such  circumstances  the  figu- 
rative construction  given  to  these  words  by 
orthodox  commentators  is  not  objectionable. 
And  were  it  stated  unequivocally  in  the 
Scriptures,  or  were  it  capable  of  being  proved 
to  us  by  science,  that  the  human  soul  is  in- 
herently immortal,  the  doctrines  evolved  from 
this  figurative  construction  would  not  only 
not  be  absurd,  but  would  leave  little  to  be 
desired.  On  the  contrary,  if  the  passages  of 
the  New  Testament  in  which  such  words  as 
"  life,"  "  eternal  life,"  "  death,"  ''  destroy  "  and 
"  perish  "  as  applied  to  the  soul  and  the  future 
life,  be  approached  for  the  purpose  of  deter- 
mining whether  they,  in  and  of  themselves, 
teach  the  doctrine  of  the  inherent  immortality 
of  the  human  soul,  it  must  be  admitted  that 
upon  the  face  of  them  they  do  not,  and  the 
burden  of  proof  lies  upon  the  propounders  of 
this  doctrine  to  show  that  the  ordinary  mean- 
ing of  the  words  is  not  the  meaning  they  were 
meant  to  bear. 


IMMORTALITY  79 

But  accepting  the  postulate  that  the  human 
soul  is  immortal,  and  the  necessary  corollary 
from  this,  that  the  reward  of  the  Christian 
or  believer  is  eternal  happiness,  and  the  con- 
clusion inexorably  follows  that  the  doom  of 
the  rest  of  the  human  race  is  eternal  misery. 
Once  accepting  the  premise,  there  seems  to 
be  no  escape  from  the  conclusions  of  Calvin 
and  Edwards  and  their  school,  without  vio- 
lating the  fundamental  laws  of  logic  and  do- 
ing violence  to  all  our  usual  modes  of  think- 
ing. The  Calvinists  have  enjoyed  the  great 
advantage  over  their  opponents  in  the  theo- 
logical field,  in  having  a  system.  They  have 
not  hesitated  to  accept  in  fullest  measure  the 
logical  conclusions  from  their  fundamental 
beliefs,  and  do  not  find  themselves  therefore 
under  the  necessity  of  reconciling  unavoid- 
able contradictions.  Every  part  of  the  system 
harmonizes  of  necessity  with  every  other  part 
of  the  system.  Calvinism  is  a  scientifically 
wrought-out  hypothesis;  and  in  theological 
controversy  it  has  enjoyed  all  the  advantages 
which  an  army  has  when  brought  into  con- 
tact with  a  mob.  But  the  burden  imposed  by 
the  doctrine  of  eternal  punishment,  however 
admirable  it  may  appear  in  theory,  has  never 
been  patiently  borne  by  the  Church  as  a  mat- 
ter of  practice.     The  whole  thing  is  so  intoler- 


8o  THE  A/[YSTERY  OF  LIFE 

ably  repugnant  to  the  human  race  that  all 
sorts  of  devices  have  been  sought  to  escape 
from  the  logical  conclusion.  Purgatory  is 
simply  the  crystallization  of  the  revolt  of 
human  feeHng  against  logic.  It  rests  upon 
the  slenderest  of  scriptural  authority,  and  has 
absolutely  nothing  gathered  from  science  or 
human  experience  to  defend  it.  It  is  simply 
a  way  of  escape  demanded  by  human  feelings 
against  the  inexorable  demands  of  human 
reason.  The  repentance  after  death  so  tena- 
ciously clung  to  by  a  certain  school  of  Pro- 
testants, is  simply  the  Romish  Purgatory  with 
vague  outlines.  And  even  the  most  orthodox 
Calvinist  in  theory  has  in  most  instances  re- 
pudiated by  his  living  the  result  of  his  think- 
ing. No  doctrine  can  ever  be  satisfactory  to 
the  human  race  which  inexorably  demands 
either  the  sacrifice  of  human  reason  or  of 
human  feeling;  and  so  the  struggle  goes  on. 
If  the  doctrine  of  eternal  suffering  be  true 
it  must  be  accepted,  however  dreadful  and 
abhorrent  it  may  be.  But  it  is  certainly  in 
harmony  with  the  kindly  teachings  of  Chris- 
tianity to  avoid  this  horrible  belief  if  possible. 
It  is  a  terrible  thing  to  be  obliged  to  believe 
that  God  has  created  countless  millions  of 
beings  whose  fate  is  to  pass  an  eternity  of 
agony,  as  a  punishment  for  a  sinning  extend- 


IMMORTALITY  8t 

ing  over  an  infinitesimal  period  of  time,  and 
this,  too,  when  the  sinning  in  most  cases 
results  from  mere  ignorance.  This  terrible 
belief  is  so  repugnant  to  the  feelings  of  nor- 
mal human  beings,  and  in  such  direct  and 
apparent  irreconcilable  contradiction  to  the 
Christian's  idea  of  God,  that  it  is  a  grievous 
burden  to  the  believer,  and  in  these  days  a 
terrible  weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  infidel 
against  Christianity.  Is  there  no  escape? 
Let  us  examine  the  theory  of  the  new  spirit 
life  and  see. 

The  same  objection  lies  against  the  new- 
life  theory  of  immortality  as  lies  against  the 
theory  of  the  inherent  immortality  of  the  soul, 
when  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  nature. 
Science  has  no  proof  either  for  or  against  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  and  but  little,  if  any, 
for  or  against  the  existence  of  spirit  beings 
who  are  endowed  with  immortality.  But 
this  silence  of  science  on  the  question  of  a 
future  life  is  of  greater  significance  than 
might  at  first  be  imagined;  for  the  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  Christianity  would  be  immeas- 
urably increased  if  the  doctrines  held  by  faith 
were  in  direct  opposition  to  the  teachings  of 
science,  since  science  is  neither  more  nor  less 
than  the  sum-total  of  our  knowledge  of  the 
works  of  God,  and  since  the  words  and  works 


82  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

of  the  same  being  should  be  in  harmony.  If 
they  appear  to  us  not  to  be  harmonious,  it 
is  a  matter  of  certainty  that  we  must  have 
misunderstood  the  works  or  the  words;  and 
it  may  be  difficult  if  not  impossible  for  the 
time  to  decide  on  which  side  the  misunder- 
standing lies.  Since  then  science  teaches 
nothing,  or  but  little  and  that  very  vague,  con- 
cerning the  future  life,  we  can  sympathize 
with  Peter  when  he  exclaimed,  "  To  whom 
shall  we  go?  thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal 
life."  Nor  is  there  now  any  other  course 
open  to  us  than  the  one  then  chosen  by  Peter. 
Difficulties  there  are  in  the  way  of  the  follow- 
ers of  Christ  now,  as  there  were  in  the  way  of 
Peter  and  the  disciples,  and  like  them  they 
have  no  alternative  if  they  would  have  even 
the  possibility  of  life.  There  is  at  present  no 
certain  word  concerning  eternal  life,  nor  any 
teachings  concerning  it  outside  the  Scrip- 
tures; we  must  learn  from  them  or  abide  in 
ignorance. 

Though  there  is  no  science  of  spirits  or  of 
spirit  life  at  present,  it  is  not  a  matter  of 
certainty  that  there  never  will  be.  The  world 
is  still  young,  and  who  shall  say  what  discov- 
eries may  be  made  of  evidence  of  spirit  life, 
when  the  industry  and  genius  shall  be  directed 
towards   it    which    have    in   past   times    been 


IMMORTALITY  83 

directed  towards  the  elements  of  the  sciences 
we  know  now.  Pneumatology  is  no  wilder 
dream  at  the  present  than  geology,  biology 
and  modern  psychology  would  have  been  not 
so  very  long  since.  But  without  waiting  for 
the  teachings  of  a  new  science,  it  may  be 
asserted  that  the  doctrine  of  the  spiritual  life 
is  more  in  accordance  with  the  teachings  of 
modern  biological  and  psychological  science 
than  any  other  propounded  theory  of  a  future 
life.  If  there  be  spiritual  beings  who  are  so 
different  from  mortals  as  to  be  called  in  the 
Scriptures  new  creatures,  then  that  they 
should  be  born  as  Christ  told  Nicodemus, 
and  that  their  creation  proceeds  from  the  com- 
munication of  the  life  of  a  pre-existing  Spirit, 
is  in  exact  accordance  with  the  teachings  of 
science;  and  Christ's  declaration  that  those 
who  are  not  born  from  above — born  of  the 
Spirit — cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of  God  is 
merely  a  statement  of  biological  law.  Ex- 
clusion from  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and 
from  the  joys  of  the  immortality  which  be- 
longs to  the  creatures  of  the  kingdom,  ceases 
to  be  punishment  in  the  way  that  word  is 
usually  understood,  and  becomes  the  an- 
nouncement of  one  of  the  laws  of  creation, 
for  the  guidance  of  those  who  are  willing  to 
be  guided.     It  is  no  more  harsh  than  would 


84  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

be  the  announcement  that  the  siUca  and  the 
lime  and  the  iron  shall  not  enter  the  plant 
kingdom  unless  brought  in  contact  with  the 
vital  forces  of  that  kingdom,  or  that  the  pro- 
teid  compounds  of  the  plant  kingdom  shall 
not  enter  the  animal  kingdom  except  through 
the  life-giving  power  of  animal  vitality,  nor 
than  the  physiological  statement  that  no 
creature  should  enter  the  animal  kingdom 
except  by  birth.  The  doctrine  of  spirit  hfe 
is  not  what  science  teaches  indeed,  but  it  is 
what  the  teachings  of  science  might  lead  us 
to  look  for,  and  this  is  much  more  than  can 
be  said  concerning  the  doctrine  of  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul  per  se. 

But  turning  now  once  more  to  the  Bible, 
and  first  to  the  Old  Testament.  The  atten- 
tive reader  of  the  Old  Testament  scriptures 
finds  indeed  little  declaration  concerning  a 
future  life,  and,  as  before  stated,  the  future 
life  is  nowhere  offered  as  a  reward  to  the 
faithful.  But  he  finds  a  shadowy  background 
of  allusion  to  a  world  and  a  life  beyond  the 
grave.  It  seems  that  a  future  life  is  every- 
where taken  for  granted.  If  it  had  been  uni- 
versally accepted  by  the  people  of  Israel  dur- 
ing all  the  period  covered  by  the  composition 
of  the  Old  Testament  that  there  was  a  life 
beyond  the  grave,  the  whole  tone  of  the  Old 


IMMORTALITY  85 

Testament  would  be  what  we  might  expect. 
A  matter  that  was  absohitely  undisputed  and 
universally  received  and  acted  upon  would 
need  no  declarations  and  would  be  only  in- 
directly alluded  to.  And  this  is  exactly  what 
we  find.  So  far  from  the  silence  of  the  Old 
Testament  on  the  subject  of  a  future  life  prov- 
ing that  the  Israelites  did  not  believe  in  it, 
there  is  evidence  of  considerable  strength 
that  the  belief  in  a  future  life  was  no  more 
open  to  question  among  the  children  of  Israel 
than  the  rising  and  the  setting  of  the  sun  or 
the  regular  succession  of  seed-time  and  har- 
vest. 

Seeking  for  a  side  light  on  this  subject, 
it  is  a  notable  fact  that  the  existence  after 
death  was  a  belief  of  nations  contemporane- 
ous with  the  children  of  Israel.  The  records 
of  the  Assyrians,  Babylonians  and  Egyptians 
prove  this  beyond  a  shadow  of  a  doubt.  The 
Sadducees  were  in  the  days  of  Christ  a  school 
of  then  modern  skeptics.  They  did  not  rep- 
resent the  ancient  belief  of  the  people  of  their 
own  day.  They  were  types  of  the  skeptics 
concerning  a  future  life  in  all  ages;  the  mass 
of  the  people  were  not  with  them;  the  com- 
mon belief  of  mankind,  from  now  back  to  the 
dawn  of  history,  and  from  the  highly  civilized 
to  the  lowest  savage,  is  that  human  beings 


86  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

live  on  after  death.  But  the  trouble  with  this 
"intuitive  belief"  is,  either  that  it  proves 
nothing  or  it  proves  too  much.  Christ  pro- 
ceeded on  the  ground  that  it  proved  too  much. 
"We  are  Abraham's  children,"  and  as  such 
have  inherited  our  present  hfe  and  will  keep 
it  forever,  was  the  contented  sentiment  of  the 
body  of  the  Jewish  people;  we  were  born  im- 
mortal, and  as  Abraham's  children  will  be 
the  favored  race  in  the  next  world  as  we  have 
been  in  this.  This  comfortable  belief  of  the 
ancient  Jew  has  not  been  peculiar  to  him,  it 
was  shared  by  the  nations  about  them  and 
has  been  held  by  millions  of  human  beings 
ever  since.  The  Mohammedan  is  going  to 
paradise,  the  Indian  to  the  happy  hunting 
grounds,  the  dwellers  in  Christian  lands  to 
heaven,  and  so  on  according  to  the  varying 
creeds  of  the  dififerent  types  and  nations  of  the 
earth.  They  almost  all  believe  in  a  future 
state  and  that  all  will  enjoy  it. 

So  while  Christ  curtly  and  effectively  sil- 
enced the  Sadducees  by  the  declaration  that 
the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  was 
the  God  of  the  living  and  not  of  the  dead,  he 
found  greater  difficulty  in  overcoming  the 
belief  in  the  universal  entrance  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  That  Christ  "brought  life 
and   immortality  to   light "   could   not   mean 


IMMORTALITY  87 

that  he  first  taught  the  doctrine  of  the  immor- 
taHty  of  the  soul,  because  it  is  a  matter  of  easy 
proof  that  this  doctrine  was  the  almost  uni- 
versal belief  of  mankind  for  ages  before  he 
appeared  upon  the  earth.  To  give  these 
words  an  effective  meaning,  or  indeed  any 
meaning,  we  must  take  him  at  his  word  when 
he  said  that  the  eternal  life  which  well-nigh 
all  his  hearers  believed  in  was  not  for  all  who 
heard  him,  but  for  those  who  believed  in  him 
and  did  the  will  of  his  father.  It  was  not  only 
to  convince  men  that  there  was  such  a  thing 
as  eternal  life  that  he  came,  but  to  overthrow 
the  fatal  error  of  believing  that  it  was  the 
common  heritage  of  all  mankind. 

It  was  noted,  in  discussing  what  the  New 
Testament  taught  regarding  the  inherent  im- 
mortality of  the  human  soul,  that  it  would 
seem  that  a  matter  of  such  transcendent  im- 
portance, if  true,  should  be  taught  in  une- 
quivocal language  and  in  plain  terms;  and  it 
was  noted  also  that  this  was  not  the  case. 
Applying  this  same  test  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
spiritual  life,  it  was  found  that  Christ  did  de- 
clare in  the  most  unequivocal  terms  that  his 
kingdom  was  not  of  this  world,  not  of  this 
present  order  of  things;  and  that  the  reward 
of  believers  was  a  reward  mainly  to  be  looked 
for  in  the  new  kingdom,  which  was  not  of  this 


88  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

world.  He  taught  that  eternal  life  was  the 
one  transcendent  object  to  be  sought  by  man- 
kind; he  showed  the  immeasurable  value  of 
this  object,  when  he  stated  that  God  himself 
had  sent  his  only  begotten  Son  into  the  world, 
that  those  who  believed  on  him  might  have  it. 
After  setting  forth  this  measure  of  the  value 
of  eternal  life,  language  was  powerless  to  de- 
scribe it.  May  not  this  account  for  the  fact 
that  neither  Christ  nor  his  apostles  make  the 
slightest  attempt  to  do  so.  Acting  upon 
this  idea  of  the  value  of  eternal  Hfe,  Christ 
taught  that  no  pains  were  too  great,  no  sac- 
rifice, no  not  even  the  sacrifice  of  the  present 
life,  too  costly  to  secure  it.  The  apostles  too 
were  imbued  with  the  same  idea.  And  let  it 
be  remarked  in  passing  that  there  is  nothing 
in  the  language  of  Christ  to  denote  that  he 
micant  anything  different  from  that  which  his 
words  signify,  when  used  in  their  ordinary 
sense,  as  the  people  to  whom  he  spoke  used 
them. 

Moreover,  he  from  first  to  last  taug'ht  that 
his  mission  was  not  one  of  condemnation, 
but  of  reward;  he  was  the  bearer  of  the 
gift  of  eternal  life,  not  of  death-warrants  di- 
rected against  the  life  that  then  was.  "  For 
God  sent  not  the  Son  into  the  world  to  judge 
the  world;  but  that  the  world  should  be  saved 


IMMORTALITY  89 

through  him.  He  that  believeth  on  him  is 
not  judged;  but  he  that  beUeveth  not  hath 
been  judged  already,  because  he  hath  not 
believed  on  the  name  of  the  only  begotten 
Son  of  God.  And  this  is  the  judgment,  that 
the  light  is  come  into  the  world,  and  men 
loved  the  darkness  rather  than  the  light." 
''He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  eternal 
life;  but  he  that  obeyeth  not  the  Son  shall 
not  see  life."  The  very  plain  signification 
of  these  words,  and  many  others  like  them, 
is  that  the  human  world  endowed  with  human 
life  is,  as  regards  the  spiritual  kingdom,  dead ; 
it  is  not  dead  as  regards  its  own  kingdom, 
but  is  dead  as  regards  the  kingdom  above. 
Therefore  it  needs  not  that  God  visit  it  with 
any  spiritual  judgment,  or  if  you  choose,  con- 
demnation, because  its  own  laws  provide  for 
its  judgment;  it  contains  the  seeds  of  its  own 
destruction.  This  is  what  man  sees  with  re- 
gard to  all  vegetable  and  animal  life ;  it  has  its 
birth,  its  growth,  its  decay,  its  death.  Thus 
Christ  stated  with  regard  to  the  human  king- 
dom what  men  knew  to  be  the  fact  with  re- 
gard to  other  kingdoms.  The  condemna- 
tion of  those  who  did  not  beHeve  in  Christ, 
and  by  obedience  to  him  put  themselves  in 
the  way  of  entrance  into  the  new  kingdom, 
was  the  merely  negative  one  of  refusing  the 
light  and  with  it  the  life  of  the  new  kingdom. 


90  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

Christ  to  show  the  way  used  the  most  com- 
mon and  homely  illustrations,  fitted  to  the 
understanding  of  the  most  humble  of  his 
hearers.  They  all  knew  what  life  meant,  they 
all  knew  what  eternal  life  meant.  Nicode- 
mus  was  not  a  biologist;  but  he  need  not  have 
been,  to  understand  that  that  life  which  could 
only  come  through  a  new  birth  was  a  differ- 
ent life  from  that  which  men  already  had,  and 
that  that  which  was  born  of  the  spirit  of  God 
must  be  different  from  the  ordinary  life  of 
man.  And  so  too  the  Scriptures  state  that 
the  believer  becomes  a  ''  new  creature,"  in 
other  words,  a  new  creation,  and  that  "that 
which  is  born  of  the  spirit  is  spirit  and 
that  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,"  and 
so  on  in  many  places.  If  these  and  similar 
words  do  not  express  the  idea  that  eternal 
life  is  not  for  all  men,  that  the  only  way  to 
inherit  eternal  life  is  to  become  possessed  of 
a  new  and  different  kind  of  life,  and  thereby 
become  a  new  and  different  kind  of  creature, 
and  belong  to  a  new  and  different  kind  of 
kingdom;  then  supposing  that  Christ  and  his 
disciples  had  sought  to  teach  such  a  doctrine 
as  this,  what  language  could  they  have  used 
in  order  to  make  it  plainer  to  mankind? 

Not  one  of  the  least  arguments  in  favor  of 
the  theory  of  the  spiritual  life  is  that  it  satis- 


IMMORTALITY  91 

fies  human  feelings  and  does  not  demand  the 
sacrifice  of  the  laws  of  thought.  No  useless 
assault  is  made  upon  the  impregnable  logic 
of  Calvinism.  The  desired  result  is  accom- 
plished by  demolishing  the  postulate  of  Cal- 
vinism— the  inherent  immortality  of  the 
human  soul.  If  it  be  discovered  that  the  pos- 
tulate of  which  Calvinism  demands  the  accep- 
tance is  unreasonable  or  lacks  suflficient  evi- 
dence; or  if  it  be  discovered  that  there  is 
another  antagonistic  postulate  just  as  rea- 
sonable or  for  which  there  is  just  as  great 
evidence,  and  that  this  other  postulate  if  ac- 
cepted leads  to  a  conclusion  which  satisfies 
at  once  logic  and  feeling,  then  are  we  not 
justified  in  accepting,  nay  even  enjoined  to 
accept  the  latter  theory?  Now  it  is  contend- 
ed that  there  can  be  no  argument  drawn 
either  from  nature  or  from  the  Scriptures,  in 
favor  of  the  inherent  immortality  of  the  soul, 
that  is  not  at  the  same  time  an  argument  in 
favor  of  the  distinct  spirit  life ;  and  it  is  further 
contended  that  there  are  many  arguments  in 
favor  of  the  spirit  life  which  are  inapplicable 
to  the  theory  of  the  inherent  immortality  of 
the  soul;  and  it  is  further  contended  that  the 
theory  of  the  spirit  life,  if  accepted,  leads  to 
such  a  harmonizing  of  thought  and  feeling, 
such  a  relief  from  irreconcilable  conflict  be- 


92  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

tween  the  component  parts  of  the  human 
mind,  that  it  should  be  accepted  even  though 
it  lacks  that  certainty  of  proof  prior  to  accep- 
tance, which  is  just  as  desirable  as  it  is  unat- 
tainable. 

No  one  finds  fault  with  the  appearance  and 
the  disappearance  of  the  living  organisms  of 
the  plant  kingdom.  The  growth  and  devel- 
opment of  a  favorite  tree  is  watched  with 
interest  and  its  death  is  a  matter  of  sorrow 
and  regret  miayhap,  but  no  one  finds  anything 
unjust  or  unnatural  in  either  its  birth  or  death. 
The  same  thing  may  be  said  about  the  mem- 
bers of  the  animal  kingdom;  from  lowest  to 
highest  they  come  into  existence  in  obedience 
to  the  great  laws  of  the  kingdom  to  which 
they  belong,  they  live  their  lives  in  obedience 
to  these  same  laws,  fulfill  the  behests  of  the 
kingdom  through  their  hunger  and  thirst, 
disease,  sickness  and  death.  While  serving 
the  needs  of  their  kingdom,  and  still  in  obe- 
dience to  its  laws,  they  enjoy  their  lives;  and 
it  must  be  a  shallow  observer  indeed  who 
does  not  see  that  the  overplus  of  enjoyment 
in  the  animal  kingdom  is  very  great,  whether 
the  animals  observed  be  wild  or  tame.  Had 
not  the  animal  been  called  into  being  by  the 
laws  of  life  it  would  have  had  no  enjoyment 
as    a    living   being    whatever;    the    pleasures 


IMMORTALITY  93 

between  birth  and  death  are  the  gifts  of  the 
kingdom  in  which  it  existed  for  a  time.  Hav- 
ing been  called  into  existence,  it  enjoys  life 
while  it  lasts;  and  when  it  ends  has  no  fault 
to  find,  since  what  it  has  enjoyed  has  been, 
as  it  were,  a  gratuity.  After  it  has  ceased  to 
exist  it  is  as  thoug-h  it  never  had  existed;  and 
being  dead,  it  is  as  though  it  had  never  lived. 
And  so  we  come  to  the  human  kingdom. 
If  man  be  born  into  the  world  and  lives  his 
life  in  it,  and  enjoys  the  pleasures  of  it,  and 
then  departs  from  it,  fulfilling  the  declaration 
of  the  law,  "  Dust  thou  art  and  to  dust  thou 
shalt  return,"  where  lies  the  ground  for  fault- 
finding? He  has  enjoyed  the  animal  pleas- 
ures of  movement  and  eating  and  drinking 
and  sleeping,  dwelling  in  the  sunshine  and 
communing  with  his  fellows.  In  addition  he 
has  experienced  the  joys  of  humanity;  the 
pleasures  of  mind  have  been  his  as  well  as  the 
pleasures  of  body.  "  Man  is  born  to  trouble 
as  sparks  fly  upward";  so  with  all  the  joys 
and  pleasures  of  life  there  has  been  mingled 
a  certain  element  of  pain,  which  was  not  to 
be  escaped;  but  in  the  human  kingdom  as 
in  the  animal  kingdom,  the  pains  in  the  life 
of  the  individual  have  subserved  great  pur- 
poses in  the  life  of  the  race;  and  so  compara- 
tively insignificant  in  amount  are  these  pains 


94  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

that  only  here  and  there  one,  and  that  one 
rarely  sane,  who  does  not  tenaciously  hold 
fast  to  life  for  the  sake  of  its  joys,  forgetting 
its  pains. 

If  then  the  human  being  is  called  into 
the  human  kingdom,  and  enjoys  the  Hfe  of 
it  while  it  lasts,  and  at  length,  whatever  that 
length  may  be,  and  whether  the  end  of  it 
be  on  this  side  of  the  grave  or  on  the  other, 
passes  out  of  existence,  he  is  simply  con- 
forming to  one  of  the  laws  of  life  as  he  sees 
it  exemplified  around  him  on  every  hand. 
While  in  the  land  of  the  living,  the  relative 
proportion  of  happiness  and  misery  which  falls 
to  his  lot  is  regulated  by  his  conformity  with 
greater  or  less  exactness  to  the  laws  of  the 
kingdom  in  which  he  finds  himself.  Impro- 
vidence and  intemperance  tend  to  grief  and 
misery,  while  prudence  and  temperance  tend 
to  peace  and  pleasantness.  And  while  the 
results  of  these  are  masked  and  counteracted 
by  the  play  of  countless  forces,  so  that  their 
results  are  not  always  readily  distinguishable; 
and  while  much  good  fortune  comes  to  the 
evil  and  many  a  trial  to  the  righteous,  the 
overruHng  law  undoubtedly  is  that  virtue  is 
rewarded  and  vice  punished,  and  that  man's 
happiness  and  misery  depend  largely  upon 
himself.    But  over  and  beyond  this  (one  might 


IMMORTALITY  95 

almost  think  for  the  purpose  of  closing  the 
lips  of  the  most  wicked  and  the  most  unfortu- 
nate), the  overplus  of  happiness  in  the  life  of 
human  beings  is  so  great  that  even  the  wicked 
enjoy  life,  the  enjoyments  of  life  being  as 
varied  as  the  living  beings.  So  that  if  man 
is  born  into  the  realm  of  the  living,  enjoys  the 
pleasures  of  the  kingdom  for  a  season,  and 
then  dies  out  of  it,  he  is  as  though  he  had 
never  been  born  into  it.  Certainly  he  would 
not  contend  that  he  had  any  pre-existing 
rights  to  be  born  into  the  kingdom.  Then  if 
the  results  of  his  creation  are  happy  results, 
as  far  as  they  go,  how  does  it  lie  in  his  mouth 
to  find  fault  because  they  are  not  longer  con- 
tinued? "Shall  the  clay  say  unto  the  potter, 
what  makest  thou?  " 

If  to  fulfill  the  infinite  designs  of  the  uni- 
verse, God  has  seen  fit  to  raise  the  not-living 
into  the  kingdom  of  the  living,  and  the  ex- 
istence of  the  living  is  on  the  whole  a  very 
happy  existence;  and  then  these  same  designs 
involve  the  passage  of  the  living  into  the  not- 
living  again  after  a  season  of  existence;  if 
out  of  dust  man  is  created,  and  after  living 
his  life,  to  dust  he  return,  how  can  God  be 
charged  with  injustice  either  on  account  of 
his  birth  or  his  death?  It  merely  comes 
down  to  that  which  in  ordinary  affairs  of  life 


96  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

is  regarded  with  repugnance,  the  demanding 
of  the  giver  why  he  does  not  give  more. 
Therefore  when  one  contemplates  the  count- 
less thousands  of  thousands  of  human  beings 
who  have  come  into  and  gone  out  of  the 
world  without  knowledge  of  God,  and  to 
whom  life  and  immortality  were  not  brought 
to  light,  he  should  have  no  other  or  different 
feelings  than  he  would  have  had  God  never 
created  them  at  all.  In  that  case  they  simply 
would  not  have  lived,  and  as  it  is,  they  have 
or  will  simply  cease  living,  and  all  things  re- 
main as  they  were. 

So  then,  if  the  human  being  be  a  mortal 
being  in  the  economy  of  the  universe,  and 
Christ's  mission  was  to  enforce  upon  the  at- 
tention of  the  human  race  the  reality  and 
attainability  of  Hfe  eternal,  full  of  a  happiness 
incomprehensible,  then  God  appears  a  God 
of  love  without  need  of  explanation,  then  the 
destruction  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  is  only 
that  natural  destruction  which  we  must  see  is 
a  part  of  the  constitution  of  things,  and  which 
is  dreadful  only  when  needless.  The  punish- 
ment of  unbelievers  is  thus  only  that  natural 
punishment  which  follows  from  not  taking 
possession  of  those  things  within  our  reach, 
and  eternity  will  not  be  peopled  with  an  infi- 
nitesimal minority  of  the  happy  and  an  infinite 


IMMORTALITY  97 

majority  of  the  wretched,  the  former  enjoy- 
ing, or  at  least  being  undisturbed  by  the  state 
of  the  latter. 

The  state  of  affairs  exemplified  by  Jacob 
and  Esau  has  always  been  a  sore  puzzle  to 
the  ordinary  believer.  Some  theologians 
have  indeed,  seemingly  to  their  own  satisfac- 
tion, shown  why  it  is  proper  that  a  mean- 
spirited  believer  should  stand  on  a  higher 
plane  than  the  noble  and  generous  infidel;  but 
to  the  common  people  it  is  a  matter  of  grave 
trouble.  Does  not  the  creation  of  a  new 
creature,  having  a  new  kind  of  life,  fitted  to 
a  different  environment,  solve  this  perplexing 
mystery?  Who  has  not  contemplated  some 
magnificent  dog  or  horse,  full  apparently  of 
sensitiveness,  generosity  and  self-sacrifice,  to 
the  disadvantage  of  some  low-lived  member 
of  the  human  race?  Who  has  not  sometimes 
had  a  little  sympathy  with  that  distinguished 
writer  who  declared,  the  more  she  saw  of  men 
the  better  she  Hked  dogs,  when  he  has  contem- 
plated some  more  than  ordinarily  contemp- 
tible man  or  some  more  than  ordinarily  noble- 
looking  dog?  And  yet  with  all  this  we  never 
hesitate  to  put  the  life  of  the  meanest  human 
being  on  a  higher  plane  than  that  of  the 
noblest  animal.  We  instinctively  recognize 
the  fact  that  we  are  comparing  beings  of  dif- 


98  THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

ferent  kinds,  and  that  comparison  is  therefore, 
except  in  particular  points,  an  impossibiUty. 
Certain  traits  of  a  noble  dog  compel  us  to 
place  him  far  above  some  human  beings,  so 
long  as  we  confine  our  attention  only  to  the 
few  points  which  in  the  dog  so  command  our 
admiration.  But  upon  closer  inspection  we 
discover  that  after  all  we  admire  the  dog 
merely  as  a  dog,  and  that  we  despise  the  man 
under  comparison  merely  as  a  man.  But 
when  the  dog,  even  the  most  noble  one,  is 
viewed  as  a  whole  with  his  capacities  visible 
and  latent,  and  compared  with  even  the  poor- 
est specimen  of  the  human  race  with  his  pow- 
ers and  capacities  present  and  future,  the  dog 
cannot  for  an  instant  bear  comparison.  The 
difficulty  experienced  in  the  comparison  of  the 
noble  specimens  of  unbelievers  with  the 
weaker  specimens  of  Christians  is,  that  we 
forget  or  are  not  aware  of  the  fact  that  we  are 
comparing  members  of  different  races.  Con- 
templated merely  as  human  beings,  many  a 
believer  cannot  stand  comparison  with  many 
an  unbeliever,  just  as  many  a  human  being 
regarded  as  a  mere  animal  is  completely  out- 
classed by  many  a  dog  or  horse.  But  if  we 
realize  that  the  believer  has  been  born  into 
a  new  kingdom;  that  the  new  spiritual  crea- 
ture  is   young   and   weak,    is   entirely   over- 


IMMORTALITY  99 

shadowed  by  the  merely  human  and  animal 
elements  with  which  he  is  surrounded,  but  is 
nevertheless  endowed  with  a  capacity  for 
growth  and  development  which  has  an  etern- 
ity before  it;  and  if  we  also  realize  faintly  what 
the  end  of  that  growth  and  development  may 
be,  we  may  understand  why,  in  spite  of  the 
great  superiority  of  the  unbeliever  in  certain 
particulars,  the  Christian  must  be  put  on  a 
higher  plane  by  virtue  of  the  new  life  within 
him.  It  is  not  merely  what  the  Christian  is, 
but  what  he  has  the  power  of  becoming,  that 
places  him  above  the  greatest  of  mere  men. 
Is  not  this  the  explanation  of  Christ's  state- 
ment concerning  John  the  Baptist?  Not 
among  the  children  of  men  had  a  greater  ever 
been  born  than  John  the  Baptist,  and  yet  the 
least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  was  greater 
than  he.  John  was  a  great  man,  he  was  great 
among  the  greatest  indeed,  judged  merely  by 
human  standards.  In  vigor  of  frame  and  in 
power  of  intellect  never  had  a  greater  ap- 
peared. Neither  Alexander,  Hannibal  nor 
Caesar  had  surpassed  him  in  native  genius. 
But  since  considered  as  a  child  of  the  human 
kingdom  he  was  but  for  a  moment  of  time, 
the  least  child  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  with 
eternal  life  as  his  possession  and  its  infinite 
possibilities  as  his  inheritance,  was  his  un- 
doubted superior. 


loo        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  the  theory  of  a  spirit 
life  which  is  a  Hfe  distinct  from  human  Hfe, 
and  which  demands  the  creation  of  a  new 
being,  involves  no  absurdity,  but  on  the  con- 
trary is  what  we  from  analogy  should  be  led 
to  look  for.  And  further,  this  theory  relieves 
us  from  many  difficulties  involved  in  other 
theories;  in  fact  it  enables  us  to  harmonize 
the  teachings  of  the  Scriptures  with  both  our 
experience,  our  methods  of  thought,  and  our 
inborn  sensibilities.  It  further  enables  us  to 
conceive  of  God  as  fore-ordaining  and  fore- 
knowing all  things,  which  seems  to  be  a  ne- 
cessity, without  at  the  same  time  doing  vio- 
lence to  our  conception  of  God  as  a  being  of 
infinite  love  and  infinite  justice. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    SIN   AGAINST    LIFE 

In  dwelling  upon  the  beauties  and  mysteries 
of  the  Christian  religion,  in  the  enticing  study 
of  the  character  of  Christ,  the  intensely  prac- 
tical quality  of  Christianity  is  in  some  danger 
of  being  lost  sight  of.  After  all,  salvation  is 
the  great  concern,  and  this  is  a  matter,  not 
of  dreaming  and  musing,  but  of  doing.  The 
question  of  overshadowing  importance  which 
comes  home  to  every  human  being  is,  suppos- 
ing there  be  a  future  life,  how  is  he  to  make 
sure  of  it.  The  preacher,  from  the  time  of 
the  apostles  even  until  now,  has  always  found 
his  initial  labor  to  be  the  convincing  of  his 
hearers  that  they  have  any  need  to  listen. 
Those  who  are  well  need  no  physician,  and 
those  who  think  they  are  well  will  have  none; 
and  convincing  or,  to  use  the  technical  word, 
conviction  of  sickness  must  inevitably  pre- 
cede the  call  for  the  remedy.  It  is  a  matter 
of  the  most  common  experience  that  it  is 
sometimes  more  difficult  to  persuade  some 
ailing  man  to  ''  send  for  a  doctor  "  than  it  is 


I02        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

for  the  doctor  to  effect  a  cure  when  once 
called  in.  Most  people  will  easily  recall  cases 
where  life  has  been  endangered  and  perhaps 
lost  through  failure  of  the  patient  to  realize 
in  time  that  there  was  anything  the  matter 
with  him.  How  continually  are  parents  and 
teachers  obliged  to  labor  with  the  younger 
members  of  the  community  to  convince  them 
that  conduct  which  seems  to  them  harmless 
enough  is  in  reality  full  of  danger. 

The  Scriptures  and  science  both  teach  that 
the  end  of  the  human  race  is  death,  that  there 
is  no  need  of  the  issuing  of  any  new  edict,  of 
pronouncing  any  new  judgment;  that  meas- 
ured by  the  yard-stick  of  time,  to  say  nothing 
of  eternity,  every  human  being  is  as  good  as 
dead.  What  a  common  thing  it  is  for  one 
having  received  a  mortal  wound  or  being 
stricken  with  a  fatal  disease,  to  say,  while  yet 
living,  ''  I  am  a  dead  man."  And  in  the 
broadest  sense  we  recognize  that  he  speaks 
the  literal  truth.  The  fact  that  he  has  a  few 
hours  or  a  few  days  or  a  few  months  to  live 
seems  to  him  and  to  others  a  matter  of  such 
small  consequence  that  no  one  ventures  to 
gainsay  him  when  he  declares  that  he  is  dead. 
How  apt,  therefore,  and  how  in  consonance 
v;ith  our  feelings  and  understanding,  are  the 
declarations  of  Christ  and  the  apostles  that 


THE  SIN  AGAINST  LIFE         103 

the  world  is  a  "  dead "  world  and  that  the 
human  race  is  "  dead " — dead  because  the 
span  of  life  still  remaining  is  too  small  to  be 
considered  in  comparison  with  the  eternity 
beyond.  If  a  person  believe  either  that  his 
present  life  will  go  on  forever,  in  any  case,  or 
that  life  for  him  ceases  at  the  grave,  in  any 
case;  or' that  supposing  his  present  life  goes 
on  forever,  his  present  conduct  in  nowise  in- 
terferes with  the  enjoyment  of  his  future  life, 
he  has  no  incentive  to  inquire  what  he  must 
do  to  secure  eternal  life.  Therefore  it  is  that 
the  preacher  finds  that  a  conviction  of  the 
falseness  of  his  position,  in  the  mind  of  his 
hearer,  must  precede  all  else.  In  the  lan- 
guage of  religion,  man  must  first  be  "  con- 
victed," convinced  of  "^w." 

The  inquiry  now  arises,  what  is  sin?  The 
laws  enunciated  in  the  Bible,  the  laws  of  the 
state  and  the  laws  of  nature,  show  that  sin  is 
merely  nonconformity  to  law — nonconformity 
to  the  law  of  the  kingdom  to  which  the  being 
belongs.  It  was  a  sin  worthy  of  death,  under 
the  reign  of  the  old  Hebrew  law,  to  gather 
sticks  on  the  Sabbath,  but  it  was  not  a  sin  at 
all  to  the  Egyptian,  the  Syrian  or  the  Baby- 
lonian, let  alone  being  a  sin  worthy  of  death. 
Under  the  Hebrew  law  gathering  sticks  on 
the  Sabbath  and  murder  were  sins  of  the  same 


I04        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

grade,  or  at  least  were  worthy  of  incurring 
the  same  punishment;  but  under  the  laws  of 
Christianity  and  of  the  nations  of  to-day, 
murder  is  a  sin  of  the  highest  grade,  while 
gathering  sticks  on  the  Sabbath  is  no  sin  at 
all.  Continuance  under  water  is  a  sin  on  the 
part  of  a  land  animal,  insuring  the  punish- 
ment of  death,  while  on  the  part  of  the  fish  it 
is  not  only  allowable  but  necessary  conduct, 
because  in  the  one  case  it  is  a  violation  of  the 
laws  of  his  kingdom,  and  in  the  other  con- 
formity thereto.  Nor  is  the  same  conduct 
always  sinful  or  always  harmless  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  same  kingdom.  The  taking  of 
human  life  by  human  beings  is  sin  or  not  ac- 
cording to  whether  it  conforms  to  or  violates 
the  law  of  the  state.  The  burglar  who  kills 
the  householder  is  put  to  death,  while  the 
householder  who  in  defence  of  life  and  pro- 
perty kills  the  burglar  not  only  receives  no 
punishment  but  is  considered  by  society  to 
have  done  a  worthy  act. 

The  laws  of  society  recognize  two  kinds 
of  crime  or  sin,  malum  prohibitum  and  malum 
in  se.  That  is  to  say,  first,  those  things  which 
are  wrong  merely  because  they  are  prohibited 
by  a  positive  law,  for  example  driving  on  the 
wrong  side  of  the  street  or  upon  the  sidewalk, 
which  acts  in  and  of  themselves  have  no  ele- 


THE  SIN  AGAINST  LIFE         105 

ment  of  wrongdoing  in  them;  and  second, 
those  things  which  are  wrong  in  themselves, 
such  as  murder,  robbery,  arson,  which  are 
regarded  by  the  human  conscience  as  wrong 
whether  prohibited  by  any  positive  law  or  no. 
So  that  under  human  laws  as  well  as  under 
the  laws  of  nature,  sin  may  or  may  not  carry 
with  it  any  idea  of  what  is  known  as  moral 
wrong.  According  to  varying  circumstances, 
the  same  conduct  may  bring  a  man  to  execu- 
tion as  a  traitor  to  his  country,  or  elevate  him 
to  the  throne  as  the  savior  of  that  same 
country.  Therefore  it  does  no  violence  to 
our  ordinary  conception  of  law  and  sin  and 
punishment  if  we  regard  the  whole  human 
race  as  sinners,  whose  conduct  insures  death 
itself,  and  yet  without  any  taint  of  moral 
wrong.  The  man  who  falls  over  the  cliff  into 
the  deep  sea  has  been  guilty  of  no  moral 
wrong,  yet  he  sins  against  the  laws  of  his 
kingdom  to  such  an  extent  that  his  punish- 
ment is  death  itself.  Had  he  murdered  a  man 
his  fate  would  have  been  the  same — death. 

These  considerations  lead  us  to  notice  that 
there  is  a  difference  between  a  sin  and  sin. 
A  sin  is  some  separate  and  distinct  and  oc- 
casional violation  of  law.  Sin,  on  the  con- 
trary, is  a  continuing,  consistent  and  persist- 
ent  course   of    sinning   or   violation    of   law. 


io6        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

Very  good  people  from  time  to  time  violate 
some  law  of  their  kingdom  or  state  and  yet 
are  not  considered  criminals,  and  so  very 
good  Christians  from  time  to  time  violate 
some  law  of  the  kingdom  of  God  and  never- 
theless they  are  not  called  sinners.  The 
criminal,  strictly  speaking,  is  the  habitual 
rebel  against  the  laws  of  the  state,  and  the 
sinner,  strictly  speaking,  is  the  habitual  rebel 
against  the  laws  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  So, 
too,  habitual  criminals  are  found  to  perform 
many  virtuous  and  commendable  actions,  re- 
maining nevertheless  criminals  in  the  general 
current  of  their  lives;  so  that,  notwithstand- 
ing many  good  and  noble  actions  on  their 
part,  and  the  display  perhaps  of  many  of  the 
most  commendable  traits  of  human  nature, 
their  state  of  rebellion  towards  the  law  ren- 
ders them  the  enemies  of  society  and  demands 
their  separation  from  it.  The  anarchist  and 
the  rebel  against  the  constituted  authority  of 
the  state  may  have  personally  all  the  moral 
virtues  which  ever  adorned  a  human  being, 
but  the  good  of  the  state  and  the  salvation  of 
society  demand  their  ruthless  expulsion,  not- 
withstanding the  possession  of  such  personal 
graces.  Thus,  too,  so-called  good  people,  en- 
dowed with  every  personal  grace  of  human 
character,    may    nevertheless    be    the    veriest 


THE  SIN  AGAINST  LIFE         107 

sinners,  since,  they  will  not  acknowledge 
either  the  existence  or  the  sovereignty  of  God 
and  his  kingdom. 

The  state  would  regard  the  violation  of 
many  of  its  positive  laws  by  an  enthusiastic 
patriot  with  the  utmost  leniency,  while  it 
would  regard  the  determined  defiance  of  its 
authority  as  a  sin  not  to  be  tolerated  on  the 
part  of  one  whose  personal  character  was 
above  reproach. 

Then,  too,  the  laws  of  different  kingdoms 
do  not  always  harmonize  with  each  other. 
The  very  acme  of  goodness  and  sinlessness 
and  obedience,  as  regards  the  laws  of  one 
kingdom,  may  involve  the  most  unpardonable 
sin  as  regards  the  laws  of  another.  The  spy, 
who  with  the  most  sublime  exhibition  of  self- 
sacrifice  and  patriotism  goes  within  the  lines 
of  the  enemy,  finds  himself  there  transformed 
into  a  criminal  of  the  deepest  dye.  The  hero 
on  the  one  side  of  the  line  becomes  the  crimi- 
nal on  the  other.  Glory  awaits  him  in  the 
one  kingdom  and  ignominy  and  death  in  the 
other;  and  all  this,  too,  without  any  taint  of 
moral  wrong. 

Leaving  the  kingdoms  of  society  and  enter- 
ing the  kingdoms  of  nature,  we  find  the  same 
laws  holding  good.  We  find  occasionally, 
nay  even  frequently,  violation  of  single  ordi- 


io8        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

nances  of  the  kingdoms  punished  indeed,  but 
pardoned  after  punishment;  but  a  continuous 
refusal  or  neglect  to  submit  to  the  law  of  the 
kingdom  is  fatal.  The  sand  of  the  field  may 
remain  outside  the  realm  where  the  laws  of 
the  plant  life  hold  sway;  that  sand  is  thus,  as 
it  were,  in  a  chronic  and  hopeless  state  of 
disobedience  or  non-obedience  to  the  laws  of 
the  plant  kingdom;  it  has  no  part  nor  lot  in 
the  life  of  the  grass  of  the  fields  or  the  trees 
of  the  forest.  And  so  again  with  the  animal 
kingdom;  that  which  lies  without  the  sphere 
within  which  its  laws  prevail  and  its  forces 
work  is  excluded  from  all  participation  in  the 
privileges  of  the  kingdom.  There  is  natur- 
ally no  idea  of  fault  connected  with  the  ele- 
ments mineral  or  organic  which  do  not  come 
within  the  range  of  the  vital  force  of  the  vege- 
table or  animal  kingdom,  but  the  law  remains, 
that  not  having  become  subject  to  the  laws 
of  the  kingdom  and  the  forces  of  it,  they  can- 
not become  part  of  it. 

In  the  case  of  life,  the  law  of  biogenesis 
holds  sway  at  the  threshold.  This  law  is, 
as  it  were,  the  warder  of  the  kingdom; 
through  his  gate  all  must  pass  which  would 
enter;  and  pervading  all  of  the  kingdoms 
of  life  is  the  law  that  what  does  not  enter 
shall   partake    of   none    of   the   privileges    or 


THE  SIN  AGAINST  LIFE         109 

activities  of  the  kingdom;  in  the  king- 
doms of  life  we  do  not  find  anything  corre- 
sponding to  the  non-residence  of  members 
of  pohtical  kingdoms.  Having  entered  a 
kingdom  of  Hfe,  many  infractions  of  its  laws 
may  be  tolerated,  provided  the  violator  accept 
the  punishment  annexed,  and  his  sins  may  be 
said  to  be  pardoned  inasmuch  as  after  the 
punishment  he  continues  to  enjoy  the  privi- 
leges of  the  kingdom.  But  there  is  one  law 
which  must  be  observed  in  the  very  begin- 
ning: failure  to  comply  with  it  is  not  punish- 
ed within  the  kingdom,  but  without  it;  its 
violation  is  an  unpardonable  and  fatal  offence. 
It  is  unpardonable  because  in  the  nature  of 
things  it  cannot  be  pardoned:  the  punishment 
is  concomitant  with  the  sin  and  fatal  to  life 
and  therefore  there  can  be  no  pardon.  This 
law  which  has  these  strange  characteristics  is 
once  more  the  law  of  biogenesis,  which  or- 
dains that  what  is  without  the  kingdom  must 
be  brought  in  contact  with  the  life-giving 
force  of  the  kingdom  in  order  to  become  alive 
and  thus  enter  the  kingdom.  That  which 
does  not  come  in  contact  with  the  pre-exist- 
ing life  of  the  kingdom  remains  dead,  remains 
in  a  state  of  continuing  and  universal  disobe- 
dience or  nonconformity  to  the  whole  system 
of  laws  of  the  kingdom;  it  neither  perceives 


no        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

nor  can  perceive  either  the  laws  of  the  king- 
dom or  the  members  of  it;  and  by  force  of 
necessity  cannot  obey  any  of  the  laws  of  the 
kingdom  and  cannot  exist  within  it:  in  fact 
it  never  enters  the  kingdom.  Therefore  a 
refusal  or  neglect  on  the  part  of  those  who 
are  without  a  kingdom,  to  come  within  the 
range  of  the  play  of  its  forces,  is  as  regards 
that  kingdom  an  unpardonable  sin.  There  is 
no  use  praying  for  forgiveness  of  such  a  non- 
conformity to  law  as  this.  It  is  a  noncon- 
formity to  law  which  is  inherently  fatal  to  an 
entrance  into  the  kingdom.  This  is  sound 
science.  It  is  also  sound  religion.  If  there 
be  a  kingdom  of  God,  a  spiritual  kingdom, 
which  is  not  the  kingdom  of  this  world,  is 
not  the  human  kingdom;  and  if  it  has  a  life 
peculiar  to  itself;  and  if,  as  in  all  other  cases 
in  all  the  kingdoms  of  life,  there  is  no  entrance 
into  it  except  through  the  operation  of  the 
law  of  biogenesis,  except  through  the  bring- 
ing of  that  which  is  outside  the  kingdom  into 
contact  with  the  life-giving  power  of  the  king- 
dom, Christ  could  have  used  no  more  accurate 
words  than  those  which  he  did  use  to  charac- 
terize the  one  unpardonable  sin.  The  unpar- 
donable sin  was,  in  his  language,  the  sinning 
against  the  Holy  Spirit;  and  that  was  a  sin  of 
such  a  nature  that  it  was  useless  even  to  pray 


THE  SIN  AGAINST  LIFE         iii 

for  its  forgiveness.  The  sin  against  the  Holy 
Spirit,  as  learned  from  other  passages  of  Scrip- 
ture, is  simply  a  refusal  to  subject  oneself  to 
the  life-giving  power  of  the  Spirit.  Those  who 
had  received  the  principle  of  life  from  the  life- 
giving  contact  with  the  Spirit  might  do  many 
evil  things;  they  might  fail  to  conform  to 
many  of  the  laws  of  the  kingdom  into  which 
they  had  gained  entrance,  and,  while  punished 
indeed,  be  nevertheless  forgiven  seventy  times 
seven  times.  But  those  who  refused  to  enter 
the  kingdom  at  all,  who  remained  out  of  con- 
tact with  the  life-giving  Spirit,  who  were 
therefore  not  born  into  the  kingdom  at  all, 
how  could  they  be  forgiven?  It  was  inher- 
ently an  unpardonable  sin,  that  is  to  say,  an 
unpardonable  nonconformity  to  an  universal 
law  of  life,  a  nonconformity  such  that  it  in- 
volved impossibility,  not  only  of  obeying  the 
laws  of  the  kingdom,  but  even  of  entering  it, 
or  worse  still,  even  of  seeing  it.  The  unpar- 
donable sin  is  no  violation  of  any  law  of 
human  morals,  it  is  simply  and  solely  the 
refusal  or  neglect  to  bring  oneself  or  allow 
oneself  to  be  brought  within  the  range  of  the 
living  force  of  the  spiritual  kingdom.  It  is 
unforgivable  and  unpardonable  only  so  long 
as  continued  in.  It  is  not  something  done 
once  which  no  consequent  conduct  can  undo, 


112        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

but  a  continuing  course  of  conduct  which 
cannot  be  forgiven  so  long  as  persisted  in, 
but  which  involves  forgiveness  instantly  and 
completely  the  moment  it  gives  way  to  sub- 
mission to  the  influence  of  the  life-giving 
Spirit. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   WAY    OF    LIFE 

Convinced  of  sin,  convinced,  that  is  to  say, 
that  his  present  actions  and  course  of  conduct 
are  not  in  conformity  with  the  laws  of  that 
kingdom  in  which  alone  life  is  eternal,  one 
is  prepared  for  "  conversion.''  And  here  again 
is  found  another  technical  religious  word. 
Conversion  is  the  logical  sequence  of  convic- 
tion. A  man  when  he  is  convinced  that  he 
is  in  the  wrong  way  naturally  turns  to  the 
right  one. 

Entrance  into  all  other  kingdoms  of  life 
except  the  spiritual  kingdom  depends  entirely 
upon  the  forces  emanating  from  within  the 
kingdom.  The  minerals  enter  the  plant  king- 
dom through  no  exertion  of  their  own;  they 
are  dependent  upon  the  vital  forces  of  the 
plant  working  upon  them.  They  are  power- 
less to  in  anywise  further  their  own  entrance 
into  the  kingdom;  and  so  it  is  with  the  animal 
kingdom.  The  elements  which  come  from 
without  have  no  power  themselves  to  do  any- 
thing towards  furthering  their  entrance  into 


114        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

the  kingdom.  Nor  is  it  possible  for  the  Hy- 
ing organisms  of  one  kingdom  to  create  for 
themselves  an  entrance  into  the  next  higher 
kingdom,  either  with  or  without  the  loss  of 
individuality.  Nor  is  it  possible  for  the  or- 
ganisms of  the  higher  kingdoms  to  open  the 
gates  of  their  kingdom  to  the  organisms  or 
individuals  of  a  lower.  There  is  an  impas- 
sable gulf  fixed  between  them,  so  that  neither 
on  the  one  side  nor  the  other  can  anything 
be  done  to  create  a  passage  for  individual  or- 
ganisms from  the  one  into  the  other;  what 
passage  there  is  must  always  be  at  the  ex- 
pense of  individuality;  some  of  the  constitu- 
ent elements  of  the  organism  or  individual 
make  the  passage,  but  never  the  organism 
itself. 

There  is  only  one  exception  to  this  well- 
nigh  universal  rule  prevailing  between  the 
various  kingdoms  of  life,  and  that  exception 
is  made  in  favor  of  man.  To  him  alone  is 
given  the  power  not  only  to  perceive  that 
there  may  be  another  and  a  higher  kingdom, 
but  to  himself  fulfill  the  conditions  necessary 
to  enter  it.  On  the  other  side  the  Spirit  is 
always  willing  to  open  the  gate  into  the  higher 
kingdom;  not  only  is  the  exception  made  on 
the  human  side,  but  also  on  the  spiritual  side. 
The  life-giving  power  of  the  superior  realm 


THE  WAY  OF  LIFE  115 

is  able  to  open  the  way  of  entrance  to  the 
organisms  of  the  lower,  and  effect  what  is  so 
properly  called  in  Scripture  a  transformation: 
a  new  creature  is  indeed  created,  but  it  is  a 
creation  by  transformation;  the  individuality 
of  the  old  is  not  lost  in  the  creation  of  the  new. 
Moreover,  it  is  so  ordained  that  man  himself 
not  only  may,  but  must  act  in  the  matter;  with 
the  God-Hke  characteristics  of  the  human  be- 
ing come  equivalent  responsibilities.  If  he 
would  pass  from  the  human  to  the  spiritual 
kingdom  he  must  perform  such  acts  as  to 
place  himself  in  such  a  condition  that  the 
power  of  the  Spirit  may  take  effect.  The  seed 
is  the  same  in  every  case,  but  it  depends  upon 
the  ground  whether  the  seed  springs  up  into 
life.  The  condition  necessary  to  the  taking 
effect  of  the  spiritual  forces  depends  upon  the 
conduct  of  man  himself;  and  therefore  if  ordi- 
nary conduct  of  mankind  does  not  prepare 
for  the  reception  of  the  life-giving  power  of 
the  Spirit,  man  must  actively  "  turn  from  the 
error  of  his  ways";  he  must  turn  from  the 
old  course  of  conduct  to  the  required  new  one. 
And  this  is  conversion.  When,  yielding  to 
proper  influence,  one  turns  from  the  conduct 
which  leads  to  destruction  in  the  near  future 
to  that  which  constitutes  the  way  to  eternal 
life,  he  is  properly  said  to  have  been  "  con- 
verted." 


ii6        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

This  conversion  is  just  as  necessary  in  the 
case  of  the  good  man  as  the  bad,  judged  by 
human  standards;  because  the  most  noble 
creatures  of  the  human  race,  the  strong,  the 
beautiful,  the  generous,  the  noble  and  the 
loving  among  men  and  women,  are  subject  to 
the  laws  of  their  kingdom,  and  the  laws  of 
that  kingdom  work  out  for  best  and  worst 
one  inevitable  result,  and  that  result  is  death. 
It  is  according  to  sound  physiological  as  well 
as  scriptural  doctrine  that  "in  the  midst  of 
life  we  are  in  death."  Man  begins  to  die  as 
soon  as  he  begins  to  live,  and  the  same  laws 
which  carry  on  his  life  carry  him  just  as 
steadily  on  to  death.  But  because  the  idea  of 
moral  guilt  has  been  so  interwoven  with  the 
idea  of  sin,  it  is  difficult  for  the  good  and  the 
noble  to  comprehend  that  there  is  a  disobedi- 
ence to  law,  a  sin  which,  without  any  moral 
taint,  is  unpardonable  and  not  even  to  be 
prayed  for.  The  very  fact  that  the  moral  and 
the  good  break  so  few  of  the  laws  of  the 
state,  of  society,  of  humanity,  renders  it  hard 
for  them  to  appreciate  that  they  are  neverthe- 
less sinners,  and  are  not  only  sinners,  but  are 
in  a  certain  fatal  state  of  sin  which,  as  the 
universe  is  constituted,  admits  of  no  pardon 
or  forgiveness.  It  is  hard  for  such  to  realize 
that  the  publicans  and  the  sinners,   as  they 


THE  WAY  OF  LIFE  117 

have  viewed  them,  the  breakers  of  human 
laws,  harlots,  thieves  and  murderers  mayhap, 
may  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  while 
they  themselves  may  be  excluded.  To  those 
who  are  so  obedient  to  the  laws  of  one  king- 
dom it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  realize  that 
they  are  fatally  disobeying  the  fundamental 
laws  of  another.  Is  there  not  here  an  ex- 
planation of  why  Christ  himself  found  his 
converts,  that  is  to  say  those  whom  he  was 
able  to  turn  from  their  old  conduct  to  the 
required  new  one,  among  the  publicans  and 
sinners,  while  the  Pharisees,  righteous  accord- 
ing to  their  own  law,  turned  to  him  a  deaf 
ear?  And  is  there  not  here  an  explanation  of 
what  every  pastor  in  the  land  discovers  for 
himself,  that  it  is  easier  to  gain  converts  in 
the  streets  and  the  alleys,  among  the  law- 
breakers and  those  who  violate  morals  and 
sometimes  even  decency,  than  among  the 
em.inently  respectable  unbelievers  who  neither 
break  the  laws  of  the  land  nor  those  of  mor- 
ality. 

Christ  was  not  indulging  in  sarcasm  when, 
commenting  on  the  observance  by  the  Phari- 
sees of  the  rules  of  their  order,  he  said, 
"  Verily,  verily  I  say  unto  you  they  have  their 
reward";  he  was  speaking  the  sober  truth. 
These  men  were  moral  men,  sober  in  their 


ii8        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

lives;  they  obeyed  the  law  of  the  state  and 
performed  all  the  ceremonies  of  their  religion. 
They  were  the  eminently  respectable  men  of 
their  day,  and  received  the  merited  reward 
attached  to  obedience  to  law.  As  this  world 
goes,  their  ways  were  to  them  ways  of  pleas- 
antness and  their  paths  were  paths  of  peace; 
they  were  honored  by  others  and  they  were 
proud  of  themselves.  There  is  little  doubt 
that  so  far  as  the  pains  and  pleasures  of 
human  life  go  they  were  happy  men;  but  so 
intent  were  their  minds  upon  obedience  to 
the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  laws  of  the 
kingdom  of  man  that  they  were  not  even 
aware  that  there  was  any  other  kingdom,  to 
say  nothing  of  its  laws. 

In  the  midst  of  such  mysteries  as  lie  at  the 
entrance  to  the  way  of  life  all  ordinary  powers 
of  perception  are  at  fault.  It  is  useless  and 
hopeless  to  rely  upon  human  understanding 
when  confronted  with  the  unsearchable  mys- 
teries of  the  beginnings  of  life.  Science  and 
philosophy  have  spent  ages  past  in  the  en- 
deavor to  solve  the  mystery  of  the  origin  of 
life.  But  at  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, the  greatest  discoveries  of  science,  and 
perhaps  the  grandest  generalizations  of  phil- 
osophy have  led  to  the  knowledge  of — what? 
In  a  word,  to  the  knowledge  that  such  things 


THE  WAY  OF  LIFE  119 

are  to  the  human  mind  forever  unknowable. 
Reh'gion  owes  to  agnosticism  a  great  debt. 
Since  by  no  amount  of  observation  can  the 
scientist  throw  the  least  gleam  of  light  upon 
the  origin  of  the  life  as  we  see  it  upon  the 
earth,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  we  should 
understand  the  origin  of  the  life  of  heaven. 
Nicodemus,  like  many  another  one,  bewil- 
dered upon  the  first  growing  conviction  that 
a  new  life  must  be  obtained,  strove  first  to 
understand  the  beginnings  of  it,  but  this 
Christ  promptly  rebuked.  The  generation  of 
life  was  no  more  to  be  understood  than  the 
movements  of  the  wind,  yet  was  none  the 
less  real;  the  generation  of  the  new  spirit 
life  is  no  more  to  be  understood  by  man 
than  the  generation  of  the  new  life  he  sees 
about  him.  Guided  by  the  laws  of  evolution 
he  may  go  back  and  back  through  the  modi- 
fications of  terrestrial  life  if  he  choose,  but 
he  will  at  length  be  confronted  with  the 
chasm  between  the  living  and  the  not-living, 
and  this  is  a  chasm  not  to  be  bridged  by 
human  comprehension;  here  is  a  problem  not 
to  be  solved. 

But  that  life  which  is  in  existence,  how- 
ever that  existence  came  about,  he  sees 
reproduced,  and  continued,  and  passed  from 
the  living  to  the  not-living  on  every  hand. 


I20        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

How  life  came  into  existence  he  cannot 
tell,  and  why  the  living  generates  new  lives 
he  knows  not  nor  probably  ever  will.  But 
that  life  has  come  upon  the  earth  he  knows, 
and  that  living  creatures  generate  new  liv- 
ing creatures  after  their  kind  he  also  knows. 
He  knows  besides  that  certain  acts  or  con- 
duct on  the  part  of  the  living  creature  are 
necessary  to  generate  its  life  in  new  creatures; 
only  by  conforming  to  fixed  and  immutable 
laws  is  life  propagated;  only  by  the  proper 
conduct  of  the  living  creature  is  a  new  life 
created.  He  is  able  to  know  what  this  con- 
duct is,  and  see  its  results  in  the  ever-increas- 
ing life  upon  the  earth.  So  that  the  experi- 
ence of  man  gives  him  some  guidance  in  try- 
ing to  find  the  way  of  the  new  life.  Left  to 
himself  indeed,  since  good  conduct  and  ill  as 
related  to  the  present  life  seem  merged  in  one 
as  regards  their  inefficiency  in  securing  the 
future  life,  his  case  might  seem  hopeless. 
But  since  proper  conduct  leads  to  the  gen- 
eration of  human  life  and  the  keeping  of  it,  it 
is  comprehensible  to  him  that  the  conduct  pre- 
scribed by  Christ  may  lead  to  the  generation 
of  the  new  life,  although  why  such  conduct 
should  lead  to  such  a  result  may  be  wrapped 
in  impenetrable  mystery;  convinced  that  his 
present  conduct  leads  to  death,  and  convinced 


THE  WAY  OF  LIFE  121 

that  there  is  another  life,  his  mind  is  at  least 
able  to  suppose  that  the  conduct  prescribed 
by  Christ  may  lead  to  the  obtaining  of  this 
other  life.  But  what  is  the  conduct  pre- 
scribed by  Christ?  He  declared  it  in  plain 
terms  to  Nicodemus  in  the  beginning,  and 
he  and  his  apostles  enforced  it  and  re-enforced 
it  throughout  their  lives.  "  For  God  so  loved 
the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son, 
that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not 
perish  but  have  eternal  life."  That  alone  is 
the  desired  conduct  which  necessarily  permits 
the  communion  with  the  Spirit,  which  is  requi- 
site to  the  birth  of  a  new  spiritual  creature; 
and  such  conduct  is  wrapped  up  in  and  evolves 
from  faith  in  Christ  and  in  his  teachings.  The 
conduct  is  simple  and  easy  to  be  understood; 
the  resulting  birth  is  an  inscrutable  mystery. 

The  conversion,  the  turning  from  the  old 
way  to  the  new,  may,  so  far  as  outward  ap- 
pearance goes,  be  great  in  some  cases  and 
small  in  others.  The  new  course  of  conduct 
prescribed  by  Christ  may  seem  so  nearly  par- 
allel to  the  usual  course  of  one's  life  as  to  be 
impatiently  and  instantly  repudiated.  How 
many  an  unbeliever,  comparing  his  own 
course  with  that  of  the  Christian,  is  convinced 
that  his  own  conduct  is  just  as  likely,  nay  even 
more  likely  to  lead  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 


122        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

if  there  be  one.  It  is  the  case  of  Naaman  the 
Syrian  again.  Why  should  bathing  in  the 
water  of  the  Jordan  produce  results  different 
from  or  even  as  good  as  a  plunge  in  the  greater 
rivers  of  Syria?  Mankind  is  ever  prone  to 
look  for  great  causes  to  produce  great  efifects, 
and  to  determinedly  refuse  to  believe  that 
apparently  slight  differences  in  conduct  may 
be  fraught  with  the  gravest  results.  People 
in  the  midst  of  a  cholera  epidemic  have  deter- 
minedly refused  to  believe  that  drinking  one 
kind  of  water  rather  than  another  could  make 
any  difference,  and  died  in  consequence. 

The  conduct  prescribed  by  Christ  is  declared 
by  him  to  be  necessar}'^  to  create  within 
man  the  character  fitted  to  receive  the  life- 
giving  influence  of  the  Spirit.  There  seems 
to  be  no  doubt  in  the  expressions  of  Scrip- 
ture that  man  has  the  power  to  turn  into  the 
way  of  life,  to  place  himself  within  the  range 
of  the  life-giving  power  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  to  enter  upon  the  course  of  conduct  in 
the  first  instance  which  shall  place  him  within 
the  grip  of  forces  which  ever  after  and  irre- 
sistibly carry  him  forward  in  the  way  of  life 
eternal.  In  the  case  of  ordinary  animals  sub- 
ject to  our  observation  we  note  that  the  new 
creature,  once  having  been  created,  j^rows  bv 
forces  not  under  its  own  control,  which  carry 


THE  WAY  OF  LIFE  123 

it  forward  and  develop  it.  It  needs  only  to 
be  placed  in  conditions  congenial  for  the  de- 
velopment of  its  own  peculiar  organism,  and 
its  own  vital  forces  do  the  rest  But  the  gen- 
eration of  a  new  living  organism  must  be  first 
accomplished,  and  in  that  the  volition  of  pre- 
existing animals  is  involved.  The  great  dif- 
ference between  the  entrance  into  the  animal 
and  into  the  spiritual  kingdom  is  that  the 
creatures  of  the  animal  kingdom  have  no  par- 
ticipation in  the  acts  or  conduct  leading  to 
their  own  birth,  while  in  the  spiritual  kingdom 
man  must  himself  do  that  which  decides 
whether  or  no  he  will  be  born  again.  If  he  is 
to  obtain  an  entrance  into  the  spiritual  king- 
dom he  must  be  born  again,  and  also  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously  adopt  the  course  of 
conduct  necessary  to  the  new  birth. 

At  birth  the  human  being  is  endowed  with 
the  animal  life  and  the  human  life  by  the  pre- 
existing living  beings  having  these  kinds  of 
life.  According  to  the  accepted  theology, 
man  is  endowed  at  the  same  time  with  spirit- 
ual life.  But  this  is  not  the  doctrine  taught 
in  the  Bible.  On  the  contrary  it  is  stated  in 
the  most  emphatic  terms  that  the  spiritual 
beings  do  not  propagate  their  own  species, 
but  that  every  one  that  enters  the  realm  of 
spirit  life  must  be  born,  not  only  anew,  but 


124        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

anew  (or  from  above)  of  the  Spirit.  The 
stream  of  spiritual  Hfe  does  not  pass  onward 
in  the  same  way  that  we  observe  it  to  pass 
in  the  various  species  of  the  animal  life.  The 
horse  of  to-day  is  the  living  embodiment  of 
equine  vital  forces  which  had  their  origin  back 
in  geological  times.  The  equine  life  has  flow- 
ed on  from  horse  to  horse  from  those  distant 
ages  even  down  to  now  without  a  single  lapse 
or  break.  The  same  is  true  of  the  life  of  the 
wheat  plant  of  the  present  time;  it  is  the 
present  living  embodiment  of  wheat  life  which 
has  existed  on  the  earth  for  ages.  Man's 
animal  life,  too,  has  been  handed  down  from 
generation  to  generation  and  passed  through 
countless  embodiments.  And  if  we  accept 
the  teachings  of  some  evolutionists,  the  life 
of  the  man  and  the  horse  and  (if  we  go  to 
extremes)  even  the  wheat  are  mere  present 
exhibitions  of  a  continuous  chain  of  vital 
forces,  the  end  of  which  is  lost  in  the  molten 
rocks  of  the  primordial  globe.  But  the 
Scriptures  teach  that  the  spiritual  life  is  not 
of  this  sort.  The  spirit  of  each  being  comes 
to  him,  not  from  his  human  ancestor,  but  di- 
rect from  God,  and  thus  do  the  believers 
become  in  very  deed  the  "  sons  of  God." 
Each  human  being  therefore  must  preside 
over  his  own  spiritual  birth;  he  cannot  inherit 


THE  WAY  OF  LIFE  125 

his  spirit  life  from  his  ancestors;  it  must  be 
obtained  from  contact  with  the  Hving  Spirit 
in  each  case,  and  cannot  be  transmitted.  Nor 
is  this  contrary  to  nature,  for  science  teaches 
that  creatures  resulting  from  the  union  of 
widely  different  life-currents  are  sterile. 

The  influence  of  the  Spirit  is  omnipresent, 
but  by  the  conduct  involved  in  conversion 
must  man's  soul  be  prepared  and  put  in  the 
condition  necessary  for  the  generation  of  the 
seed  of  the  Spirit  and  the  production  of  the 
spiritual  organism  or  new  creature.  This  is 
not  only  according  to  Scripture  but  according 
to  nature;  the  conditions  under  which  living 
creatures  may  be  created  and  under  which 
they  may  develop  are  under  the  control  of 
man.  The  vital  forces  are  not  his,  but  the 
conditions  under  which  they  act  are  in  many 
instances  under  his  control.  Living  beings 
come  into  existence  at  his  will,  and  according 
to  the  conditions  which  he  is  able  to  prescribe 
they  grow  and  develop  or  die.  Therefore 
that  the  creation  of  the  new  spiritual  creatures 
should  depend  upon  conditions  to  be  brought 
about  by  ..mankind  is  in  entire  accordance  with 
that  which  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge 
to  the  meanest  of  the  human  species. 

It  may  be  noted  that  the  preparations  for 
the   propagation   and   preservation   of  life   in 


126        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

any  kingdom  are  frequently  connected  with 
that  which  is  subject  to  the  laws  of  a  lower 
kingdom.  Man  prepares  a  seed-bed  in  the 
earth  for  the  reception  of  the  wheat.  While 
there  is  no  life  in  the  seed-bed,  upon  its  proper 
preparation  it  depends  whether  the  wheat 
will  ever  germinate  or  no.  The  living  power 
within  the  seed  cannot  produce  the  living 
plant  unless  by  means  of  proper  preparation 
of  the  seed-bed,  the  prerequisite  conditions  of 
life  are  called  into  existence.  Looking  to  the 
fertilized  ovule,  we  find  that  the  organism 
evolved  is  habitually  nourished  from  the  ele- 
ments prepared  in  a  next  lower  kingdom. 
The  plant  lives  upon  the  prepared  earthy 
elements,  the  animal  is  nourished  by  the  plant, 
or  another  animal  which  lives  upon  the  plant. 
The  human  soul  or  mind  depends  upon  the 
body,  is  so  interwoven  with  it  that  the  exist- 
ence of  the  one  cannot  be  separated  from  the 
other.  Indeed,  so  intimate  is  the  dependence 
that  the  operations  of  the  one  might  easily  be 
mistaken  for  the  operations  of  the  other.  How 
in  accordance  with  experience,  then,  to  find 
that  the  preparation  for  the  generation  of  the 
new  spirit  life,  and  for  its  nourishment,  is 
directed  to  that  which  afifects  the  soul  or  mind 
of  man.  The  whole  conduct  prescribed  by 
Christ  as  the  prerequisite  of  the  generation 


THE  WAY  OF  LIFE  127 

of  spirit  life,  and  for  its  nourishment  when 
brought  into  existence,  is  such  as  afifects  the 
psychological  element  of  man.  If  there  be  a 
spirit  life  and  it  be  higher  than  the  human 
life,  higher  than  the  soul  life  of  man,  the  part 
of  man  demanding  preparation  for  its  genera- 
tion and  nourishment  should  be  his  soul;  and 
so  we  find  it. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

god's  sovereignty  and  man's  agency 

In  the  past  chapters  God  and  man  have  been 
regarded  as  co-workers,  so  to  speak,  in  secur- 
ing man's  entrance  into  the  spiritual  kingdom ; 
but  this  relationship  is  of  such  great  import- 
ance, and  has  been  the  subject  of  so  much 
controversy,  that  it  deserves  to  be  more 
closely  studied.  Not  only  since  the  dawn  of 
history,  but  in  the  twihght  of  mythology,  the 
human  race  has  worshiped  God,  has  stood  in 
awe  of  some  supernatural  power.  In  some 
cases  the  ideas  concerning  this  supernatural 
power  have  been  crude,  even  to  the  point  of 
being  grotesque,  as  viewed  from  our  stand- 
point of  to-day;  in  other  cases  they  have  been 
wrought  into  highly  developed  systems;  in 
some  cases  they  command  our  admiration  for 
their  pure  beauty,  and  in  others  excite  our 
disgust  by  their  bestial  qualities ;  but  in  all  the 
belief  is  firmly  held  that  there  is  a  power  supe- 
rior to  the  human  race,  having  control  of  its 
destinies.  This  fact  of  the  universal,  or  well- 
nigh  universal,  belief  of  mankind  in  a  God  of 


GOD'S  SOVEREIGNTY  129 

some  sort  has  been  explained  in  many  ways; 
the  Christian,  the  pagan  and  the  agnostic 
philosopher  all  recognize  the  existence  of  a 
belief  in  the  supernatural,  wherever  the 
human  race  has  been  found:  the  explanations 
vary,  but  the  fact  is  undisputed. 

The  Hebrew  Scriptures  do  not  attempt  to 
prove,  they  assert  that  "  in  the  beginning  God 
created  the  heavens  and  the  earth,"  that  the 
earth  exhibits  the  wisdom  of  God  and  that  the 
heavens  declare  his  glory.  The  Hebrew  na- 
tion was  taught  to  believe  in  God,  not  by  ar- 
gument in  word  but  by  argument  in  deed; 
they  were  given  exhibitions  of  his  power  in 
certain  particulars  and  left  to  infer  it  in  all 
particulars;  but  their  belief  in  a  God  was  not 
peculiar  to  them;  belief  in  a  supernatural 
ruler  was  widespread  in  their  day. 

Along  with  the  belief  of  the  peoples  in  a 
supernatural  being  ruling  over  their  fortunes, 
came  a  necessary  corollary,  their  resort  to 
prayer  and  sacrifice,  as  a  manifestation  of 
their  inferiority  and  willingness  to  obey.  The 
belief  of  the  heathen  world  was  that  the  power 
of  God  would  be  exerted  for  or  against  par- 
ticular men  and  nations  in  accordance  with 
the  manifestation  to  him,  by  word  and  deed, 
of  their  submission  to  his  authority.  As  the 
power  was  the  king's,   yet  advancement  de- 


I30        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

pended  upon  the  conduct  of  the  courtier,  so 
the  power  resided  in  God,  but  the  benefits  of 
it  could  be  procured  by  man,  only  by  imitat- 
ing the  submission,  reverence  and  prayer  of 
the  subject.  The  same  doctrine  was  taught 
in  a  thousand  varying  ways  in  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures;  man  was  under  obligation  to  ac- 
knowledge the  Ruling  Power  of  the  universe 
and  put  himself  in  subjection  to  his  laws.  We 
need  not  go  further  than  the  Pentateuch  to 
find  this  lesson  inculcated  by  every  use  of  lan- 
guage and  ceremony;  and  we  may  go  to  the 
end  of  Hebrew  Scriptures  and  find  the  changes 
rung  upon  this  subject  in  a  never-ending 
variety  of  lessons.  The  ceremonies  connected 
with  the  tabernacle,  the  laws  for  regulating 
civil  conduct  given  by  Moses,  the  wars  of  the 
Judges,  the  elaborate  ceremonies  of  the  tem- 
ple, the  words  of  the  prophets,  the  captivity 
and  return,  all  are  permeated  with  two  com- 
plementary lessons — the  infinite  power  of  God 
and  man's  control  over  his  own  destiny.  In 
the  conclusion  of  Deuteronomy  we  find 
Moses  solemnly  declaring,  "  See  I  have  set 
before  thee  this  day  life  and  good,  and  death 
and  evil;  in  that  I  command  thee  this  day  to 
love  the  Lord  thy  God,  to  walk  in  his  ways, 
and  to  keep  his  commandments,  that  thou 
mayst  live   and   multiply.     But   if  thy   heart 


GOD'S  SOVEREIGNTY  131 

turn  away,  so  that  thou  wilt  not  hear,  but 
shall  be  drawn  away,  and  worship  other  gods, 
and  serve  them,  I  denounce  unto  thee  this 
day  that  ye  shall  surely  perish.  ...  I 
call  heaven  and  earth  to  witness  against  you 
this  day,  that  I  have  set  before  thee  life  and 
death,  the  blessing  and  the  curse;  therefore 
choose  life."  iAnd  this  sentiment  and  this 
farewell  declaration  of  Moses  was  never  de- 
parted from  or  varied  by  prophet  or  priest 
claiming  to  speak  the  word  of  God  till  pro- 
phecy ceased  in  the  land  of  Israel. 

At  the  time  therefore  of  the  coming  of 
Christ,  the  people  who  listened  to  the  decla- 
rations of  John  and  the  discourses  of  Jesus 
asked  no  proof  either  of  the  sovereignty  of 
God  or  man's  power  to  dispose  of  his  own 
destiny.  The  contradictory  qualities  of  the 
two  propositions  did  not  seem  to  exercise  the 
minds  of  men  in  those  days,  they  simply  ac- 
cepted both  and  acted  upon  them.  Then  as 
now  there  were  a  few  unbelievers  in  God,  but 
they  counted  for  little  amidst  the  masses  of 
the  people.  Atheism  has  never  found  con- 
genial soil  upon  the  earth,  for  the  ordinary 
man  finds  himself  and  his  works  subject  to  a 
power  above  him  and  worships  instinctively. 
John  the  Baptist  therefore  spent  no  time 
in  persuading  the  multitudes  which  came  to 


132        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

him  that  there  was  a  God,  or  that  man  needed 
to  obey  him  if  he  looked  for  Ufe;  the  multitude 
believed  in  these  things  as  matters  of  fact 
probably  as  fully  as  John.  But  John  did  ad- 
dress himself  to  persuading  the  multitude 
that  they  did  not  understand  the  law  of  God, 
and  therefore  it  was  needless  to  say  were  not 
obeying  it  They  came  out  to  him  beHeving 
in  God,  to  be  sure,  but  believing  also  that  the 
children  of  Abraham,  in  the  flesh,  were  pos- 
sessed of  a  divine  patent,  so  to  speak,  insuring 
them  a  position  in  the  heavenly  kingdom. 
But  John  said,  "  Ye  offspring  of  vipers,  who 
warned  you  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come?" 
What  a  shock  it  must  have  been  to  these  self- 
satisfied  people,  who  were  comforting  them- 
selves with  the  thought  that  they  were  chil- 
dren of  Abraham,  to  be  addressed  as  the  off- 
spring of  vipers.  As  a  basis  of  hope  for 
escape  from  destruction  they  might  as  well 
have  been  broods  of  detested  reptiles  as  the 
physical  children  of  Abraham.  They  were 
committing  the  fatal  error  of  supposing  that 
they  had  inherited  from  their  fathers  spiritual, 
and  therefore  eternal  life.  They  had  yet  to 
learn,  what  Christ  told  Nicodemus,  that  that 
which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh  and  that  only 
that  which  is  born  of  the  spirit  is  spirit. 
"  Bring  forth  therefore  fruits  meet  for  repent- 


GOD'S  SOVEREIGNTY  133 

ance,"  cried  John;  do  those  things  which  are 
evidences  of  the  fact  that  you  recognize  that 
you  have  been  in  error  and  have  set  your  faces 
towards  the  right  goal.  So  long  as  they  said 
within  themselves,  *'  We  have  Abraham  to  our 
father,"  and  relied  upon  the  inheritance  of  Hfe 
by  descent  from  him,  they  could  not  inherit 
it,  for  they  believed  that  they  were  in  the  right 
way  already  while  in  truth  they  were  in  the 
broad  road  to  destruction.  But  when  the 
truth  came  home  to  their  intelligence  that 
God  the  Father  of  spirits  was  able  of  the  very 
stones  to  raise  up  children  unto  Abraham, 
the  conviction  would  come  that  they  must  be 
up  and  doing  if  they  would  escape  the  wrath 
to  come.  God's  power  was  indeed  infinite  as 
both  John  and  they  believed;  he  could  raise 
up  children  from  the  very  stones.  But  he  did 
not  act  arbitrarily  and  without  method  com- 
prehensible to  man.  He  had  ordained  certain 
uniform  laws,  to  which  man  could  conform 
and  to  which  he  must  conform  or  be  lost. 
The  multitude  had  no  difficulty  in  understand- 
ing John's  point  at  the  conclusion  of  his  dis- 
course. They  said,  "What  must  we  do?" 
John  was  practical,  and  as  the  question  to  him 
was  what  must  we  do,  he  prescribed  deeds, 
he  dwelt  not  so  much  upon  **  why  "  as  upon 
"  what."     His  hearers  could  not  practice  what 


134        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

John  preached  without  becoming  in  kind 
what  John  was.  Those  who  followed  John 
prepared  themselves  for  Jesus.  No  one  can 
read  the  few  brief  texts  of  John's  discourse 
and  not  be  struck  with  their  Christlike  char- 
acter. John  came  only  to  prepare ;  he  with  the 
baptism  of  water  made  clean  the  soul  to  receive 
the  spark  of  life  from  the  Holy  Spirit.  John 
baptized  with  water,  but  Christ  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  with  fire.  Those  who  received 
the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit  would  be  as 
safe  as  the  wheat  gathered  into  the  garner, 
but  those  who  repented  not  nor  turned  from 
the  way  they  were  in  would  be  as  surely  and 
completely  destroyed  as  the  chafif  would  be 
by  an  unquenchable  fire.  So  John  departed 
not  from  the  principles  of  Moses  and  the  pro- 
phets. The  power. of  God  and  the  will  of  man 
needed  to  join  hands  to  secure  hfe.  As  Moses 
declared  God's  power  and  yet  left  the  choice 
between  Hfe  and  death  with  man  himself,  so 
John,  first  declaring  the  unlimited  power  of 
God,  laid  upon  each  man's  shoulders  the 
burden  of  his  own  salvation.  This  do,  and 
ye  shall  live,  was  the  declaration  of  Moses; 
John's  proclamation  was — bring  forth  fruits. 
So  at  the  very  beginning  and  the  very  end  of 
the  Mosaic  dispensation  it  was  not  left  in 
doubt  that  man  himself  determined  between 


GOD'S  SOVEREIGNTY  135 

life  and  death.  From  Moses  to  John  there  is 
not  the  faintest  intimation  that  man's  destiny- 
did  not  depend  upon  his  own  will. 

Did  Christ  reverse  the  long  line  of  pre- 
cedent? Not  by  any  means;  we  have  his  own 
declaration  that  he  came  not  to  destroy  but 
to  fulfill;  not  even  one  jot  or  tittle  was  to  be 
altered.  His  doctrine  was  the  very  develop- 
ment of  the  principles  of  the  law  and  the  pro- 
phets. He  neither  detracted  from  the  infinite 
power  of  God  declared  in  the  Scriptures,  nor 
on  the  other  hand  did  he  molest  in  the  slight- 
est particular  the  oft-declared  responsibility 
of  man  for  his  own  destiny.  The  people  bit- 
ten by  the  serpents  in  the  wilderness  were  as 
good  as  dead  from  the  instant  the  bite  was  re- 
ceived; an  element  was  in  their  blood  which 
left  to  itself  worked  out  death.  Moses  prayed 
unto  the  Lord  for  salvation  of  the  people,  not 
doubting  that  the  power  to  save  must  come 
from  God.  But  so  necessary  does  it  seem  to 
have  been  to  enforce  upon  the  minds  of  the 
people  that  though  salvation  come  from  the 
Lord  it  must  come  by  virtue  of  their  own  ac- 
tion, that  Moses  was  directed  to  erect  the 
brazen  serpent,  at  which  the  stricken  people 
must  gaze  in  order  to  remain  in  the  land  of 
the  living.  They  themselves  were  obliged  to 
do  something  for  themselves  or  die.     Christ 


136        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

seized  upon  this,  to  Nicodemus,  well-known 
incident  to  force  home  upon  his  confused 
mind  the  all-important  lesson,  saying  to  him 
"  As  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilder- 
ness, even  so  must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted 
up,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should 
not  perish  but  have  eternal  life."  Not  all  the 
stricken  Israelites  received  life,  only  those 
who  were  willing  to  turn  towards  the  brazen 
serpent;  not  all  the  children  of  Abraham 
should  have  eternal  life,  but  only  those  who 
turned  to  Christ,  only  those  who  confided  in 
him,  trusted  to  him,  and  yielded  up  their  own 
ways  to  follow  his.  As  the  serpent  was  a 
needful  object-lesson  in  the  wilderness,  so  was 
the  Son  of  man  the  needed  object-lesson  to 
mankind.  Those  who  turn  are  saved;  those 
who  refuse  pass  on  to  destruction.  ''  He  that 
believeth  on  the  Son  hath  eternal  life,  but  he 
that  obeyeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see  hfe,  but 
the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him."  As  with 
Moses  and  the  prophets  and  as  with  John  the 
Baptist,  so  with  Christ,  the  believing  still  in- 
volves obedience,  obedience  to  the  law  of  the 
kingdom  which  one  wishes  to  enter  and  in 
which  he  desires  to  abide.  The  obedience  to 
the  laws  of  the  human  kingdom  is  sufficient 
for  that  kingdom,  but  fails  to  produce  an  en- 
trance into  the  higher  kingdom.     Those  that 


GOD'S  SOVEREIGNTY  137 

obey  not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life;  they  shall 
not  lose  it,  they  shall  never  obtain  it. 

Running  through  all  the  words  of  Christ 
and  his  apostles  like  warp  and  woof  were  the 
two  great  doctrines  of  the  sovereignty  of  God 
and  the  free  will  of  man.  These  things  were 
not  explained  but  asserted.  It  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  the  very  early  Church  had  the 
tremendous  force  and  influence  behind  it  of 
Christ's  recent  personal  presence  upon  earth. 
It  is  hard  to  realize  the  greatness  of  this 
power.  In  those  very  early  days,  statement, 
assertion  and  exhortation,  and  not  argument, 
were  the  useful  weapons  of  the  Church.  The 
Church  as  time  went  on  lost  this  advantage, 
but  gained  the  equivalent  one  of  the  power 
of  history.  The  fulfillment  in  these  days  has 
as  great  weight  and  authority  with  mankind 
as  the  announcement  in  the  days  of  Christ. 
But  as  time  went  on,  believers  were  obHged 
to  give  a  reason  for  the  hope  which  was  with- 
in them;  to  declaration  and  exhortation  had  to 
be  added  argument.  The  introduction  of  a 
new  antagonistic  and  exclusive  religion  by 
peaceful  means  demanded  of  necessity,  argu- 
ment and  explanation :  the  apostles  themselves 
set  the  example.  They  found  both  with  the 
Jew  and  Greek  the  necessity  of  argument; 
with  the  Jew  to  show  that  Christianity  was  the 


138        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

fulfillment  of  the  law;  with  the  Greek  to  show 
that  it  was  not  antagonistic  to  the  nature  of 
things.  Since  Christians  were  precluded  from 
spreading  their  religion  by  the  sword,  they 
were  driven  to  convince  by  reasoning. 

Moreover,  Christianity  made  theology  a 
concern  of  the  people.  Whatever  philoso- 
phers may  have  done  before  the  advent  of 
Christianity,  the  people  had  not  concerned 
themselves  with  theology.  The  very  prose- 
lyting by  the  innumerable  Christian  mission- 
aries bred  argument  among  the  people.  Paul 
and  his  followers  asked  only  the  privilege  of 
addressing  the  people.  The  people  not  only 
questioned  the  missionaries,  but  themselves 
began  theorizing  to  explain  how  these  things 
could  be.  Before  the  days  of  the  apostles 
were  concluded  we  find  this  great  discussion 
of  religion  productive  not  only  of  incalculable 
good,  but  also  of  no  little  evil.  Paul  and  the 
other  writers  found  it  necessary  to  combat 
many  wrong  theories,  because  wrong  theory 
soon  brought  in  its  train  wrong  practice. 
Where  wrong  theories  were  allowed  to  breed 
unhindered,  the  Church  was  speedily  destroyed. 
The  need  of  explanation  and  expounding 
the  new  religion  was  as  manifest  as  the  need 
of  sunlight,  but  the  best-intentioned  expound- 
ers now  and  again  drifted  into  vagaries  which 


GOD'S  SOVEREIGNTY  139 

could  not  be  defended.  But  worse  than  this, 
a  spirit  grew  up  in  the  Church,  or  at  least 
among  some  of  the  great  leaders  of  the 
Church,  that  religion  must  be  reduced  to  a 
system  which  should  leave  nothing  further  to 
be  explained.  The  doctrines  so  plainly  enun- 
ciated in  the  Old  Testament,  so  explicitly 
declared  by  Christ  and  his  apostles,  God's 
sovereignty  and  man's  free  will,  could  not 
long  escape  the  attention  of  the  systematizers. 
In  practice  these  two  doctrines  got  along 
very  harmoniously  together,  but  in  theory 
they  troubled  the  Church  greatly.  It  seems 
so  plain  that  these  two  doctrines  shoujd  stand 
together  that  it  is  hard  to  conceive  why 
Christians,  from  the  time  of  the  Church 
Fathers  until  now,  have  been  so  determined 
to  subordinate  the  one  to  the  other,  or  rather 
exclude  one  by  the  other,  unless  it  be  that 
they  have  been  unable  to  withstand  the  taunts 
of  the  infidel  that  their  religion  contained  a 
staring,  irreconcilable  contradiction.  The 
controversy  in  the  Church  over  this  matter 
waxed  greater  and  greater,  until  it  ended  in 
the  turbulent  contentions  in  the  days  of  Atha- 
nasius  and  Arius,  when  mingled  words  and 
cudgels  were  used  in  Church  councils,  and 
armed  men  determined  decisions.  Athan- 
asius  may  be  said  to  have  prevailed  in  estab- 


I40        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

lishing  in  the  Western  Church  the  doctrine 
that  man's  salvation  is  the  work  of  God  alone. 
Later  on  the  great  authority  of  Augustine  was 
exercised  in  favor  of  the  doctrine  that  God 
determined  salvation  to  the  entire  exclusion 
of  man's  agency  in  the  matter.  Calvin  in  the 
Protestant  Church  reduced  this  doctrine  to 
the  plainest  and  most  undisguised  formula 
when  he  declared  his  famous  doctrine  of  pre- 
destination. But  from  the  time  of  Arius, 
whether  under  the  name  of  synergism,  that  is 
to  say  the  co-working  of  God  and  man,  or 
semipelagianism,  or  Arminianism,  the  scrip- 
tural doctrine  that  man  had  a  voice  in  his  own 
destiny  has  survived  in  the  Church.  Not 
even  the  great  authority  of  Athanasius,  Augus- 
tine and  Calvin,  than  whom  no  greater  minds 
ever  existed  in  the  Church,  has  sufificed  to 
keep  the  great  body  of  Christians  to  the  doc- 
trine that  God  has  irrevocably  appointed  man 
to  salvation  or  damnation  without  any  agency 
of  man  in  the  matter. 

Forgetting  that  nature  has  always  refused 
to  be  conformed  to  any  exact  system,  that  it 
is  complicated  beyond  any  power  of  classifi- 
cation, man  is  ever  struggling  to  reduce  all 
things  to  what  he  considers  order.  So  long 
as  it  is  thoroughly  realized  that  the  insolvable 
lies   ever   beyond   the   last   solved,    and   that 


GOD'S  SOVEREIGNTY  141 

knowledge  is  bounded  on  every  hand  by  the 
unknown,  and  that  the  explanation  will  al- 
ways need  to  be  explained,  this  is  proper  and 
necessary  to  all  progress.  With  this  reaUza- 
tion  before  us,  let  us  approach  the  doctrines 
of  predestination  and  free  will. 

The  arguments  to  prove  that  God  must 
foreknow  all  things  are  unanswerable.  Hav- 
ing arrived  at  this  stage  in  the  argument,  it 
seems  a  playing  with  words  to  deny  that  God 
must  have  foreordained  all  that  has  come 
about  or  will  come  about,  including  the  salva- 
tion or  damnation  of  every  particular  human 
being.  On  this  battleground  the  Calvinist 
easily  puts  to  rout  his  opponents.  He  has  un- 
deniable premises  and  reaches  his  conclusions 
by  impregnable  logic.  Did  he  but  stop  there, 
no  fault  could  be  found  with  his  doctrine,  but 
when  he  goes  one  step  further  and  says,  in 
the  words  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  that 
man's  salvation  is  ''out  of  God's  mere  free 
grace  and  love,  without  any  foresight  of  faith  or 
good  works  or  perseverance  in  either  of  them 
or  any  other  thing  in  the  creature,  as  condi- 
tions or  causes  moving  him  thereunto,"  and 
that  "  Man,  by  his  fall  into  a  state  of  sin,  hath 
wholly  lost  all  ability  of  will  to  any  spiritual 
good  accompanying  salvation;  so  as  a  natural 
man  being  altogether  averse  to  that  good,  and 


142        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

dead  in  sin,  is  not  able,  by  his  own  strength 
to  convert  himself  or  prepare  himself  there- 
unto," he  not  only  antagonizes  the  innate 
feelings  of  mankind,  but  goes  counter  to  the 
plain  statements  of  the  Scriptures.  *'  Strive 
to  make  your  calling  and  election  sure,"  is  as 
much  Scripture  as  "  By  grace  alone  are  ye 
saved."  The  Calvinist  places  great  reliance 
upon  the  saying  of  Christ  that  no  man  can 
come  unto  him  except  the  Father  draw  him. 
There  is  no  disposition  to  controvert  or  to 
qualify  this  bald  statement.  It  expresses  the 
truth  and  sets  forth  the  controlling  power  of 
God  in  his  universe,  as  unqualifiedly  as  any 
Augustinian  or  Calvinist  could  possibly  desire. 
Yet  this  power  of  God  is  exercised,  to  quote 
from  the  Confession  of  Faith,  "  So  as  thereby 
neither  is  God  the  author  of  sin,  nor  is  vio- 
lence offered  to  the  will  of  the  creature,  nor 
is  the  liberty  or  contingency  of  second  causes 
taken  away,  but  rather  established."  Once 
more,  if  Calvinism  had  made  this  statement 
of  man's  agency  a  fundamental  element  of 
its  doctrine,  no  fault  could  be  found  with  its 
position  on  this  matter.  But  then  there 
would  have  been  no  Calvinism  as  plain  people 
understand  what  is  meant  by  that  term.  It 
is  because  Calvinism  is  unwilling  to  allow 
God's  sovereignty  and  man's  agency  both  to 


GOD'S  SOVEREIGNTY  143 

stand  that  it  has  created  such  antagonism. 
But  to  take  out  this  distinctive  feature  would 
be  to  destroy  the  thing  itself.  Calvinism  is 
unwilling  to  allow  the  two  doctrines  to  re- 
main in  its  system  without  harmonizing  them, 
and  its  manner  of*  creating  harmony  is  to 
cause  the  one  doctrine  to  reduce  the  other  to 
mere  words  without  force  or  comprehensible 
meaning.  Let  us  see  if  with  the  added  light 
of  the  works  of  God,  which  the  race  enjoys 
to-day,  these  seeming  contradictions  of  his 
word  can  be  harmonized  without  doing  vio- 
lence to  either. 


CHAPTER  IX 

CAUSE 

The  modern  investigation  of  natural  forces 
leads  to  the  conclusion  that  no  unit  of  force 
is  ever  lost,  that  matter  is  never  destroyed. 
Every  manifestation  of  force  is  merely  bring- 
ing under  our  notice  something  which  existed 
before  and  will  continue  to  exist  hereafter. 
Nothing  can  occur  which  is  not  the  result  of 
some  previous  occurrence  or  combination  of 
occurrences;  and  nothing  can  occur  without 
itself  being  in  turn  the  cause  of  subsequent 
occurrences,  and  so  on  ad  inilnituni. 

The  single  autumn  leaf  which  is  now  twirl- 
ing and  fluttering  to  the  ground  is  the  result 
of  causes  which  were  at  work  before  the  dawn 
of  life  upon  the  earth.  The  pufif  of  air  which 
was  the  final  determining  cause  of  its  fall  at 
the  particular  moment,  is  the  result  of  a  com- 
plicated series  of  events,  stretching  back  into 
past  ages,  until  even  the  imagination  of  man 
can  follow  them  no  longer.  The  air  with  its 
oxygen  and  nitrogen  and  carbon  was  com- 
pounded, one  dares  not  state  how  long  since. 


CAUSE  _      145 

It  was  a  part  of  the  sun  once;  then  certain 
events  determined  that  the  atoms  of  gas  which 
form    the    breeze    moving    against    the    leaf, 
should  not  be  thrown  off  to  become  a  part 
of  Neptune  or  Jupiter,  but  should  be  thrown 
off  to   become   a  part  of  the   Earth.     Other 
causes  determined  that  this  particular  oxygen 
should  not  become  united  with  a  part  of  the 
solid  crust  of  the  earth  to  form  its  sand  or  its 
clay  but  should  remain  free  in  the  atmosphere. 
The  presence  of  the  elements  in  the  atmos- 
phere having  been  thus  determined  by  far-off 
causes,    the    mind   is   bewildered    in   contem- 
plating the  thousand  thousand  causes  which 
have  acted  upon  the  particles  of  oxygen  and 
nitrogen  and  carbon  of  the  air  which  blew 
down  the  leaf.     How  many  myriads  of  times 
those  particles  may  have  gone  in  and  out  of 
living  plants   and   animals   and   been   carried 
hither  and  thither  over  the  face  of  the  earth; 
and   while   a   part   of   the   atmosphere,    what 
world-encircling    journeys     may     they    have 
made  during  the  ages  since  the  earth  had  an 
atmosphere;  how  m.any  times  may  they  have 
blown  in  the  steady  trade-winds  of  the  trop- 
ics, or  have  been  whirled  in  cyclones  over  land 
and  sea,  now  taking  part  in  scarcely  moving 
breezes  and  again  assisting  in  terrific  gales, 
now  sent  up  by  the  heated  earth  to  the  upper 


146        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

regions  of  the  air,  and  now  sent  down  heavy 
and  cold  to  the  earth  again.  Hither  and 
thither  they  have  gone,  through  countless 
ages,  urged  on  by  an  infinity  of  complicated 
causes,  until  at  length  they  have  moved 
against  the  face  of  the  just  ripened  leaf  and 
caused  its  fall.  But  the  pufT  of  air  against  the 
leaf  was  only  the  last  link  in  the  chain  ending 
in  the  immediate  cause  of  the  leaf's  fall. 
Some  man  mayhap  planted  the  tree.  Who 
shall  attempt  to  run  back  the  cause  upon 
cause  and  series  of  causes  which  brought  that 
particular  man  to  that  particular  part  of  the 
earth;  what  teeming  events  in  the  life  of  each 
of  his  ancestors,  each  contributing  in  the  end 
to  the  man  being  at  the  required  place.  The 
tree  being  planted,  how  many  causes  con- 
spired to  produce  the  growth  of  the  tree,  en- 
abled it  to  resist  the  attacks  of  insects,  caused 
it  to  survive  the  drought  of  summer  and  the 
cold  of  winter.  Then  in  the  production  of  the 
tree  branch  by  branch  and  twig  upon  twig, 
until  the  bud  of  this  particular  leaf  was 
formed,  how  many  causes  were  at  work  to 
bring  thither  all  the  atoms  of  carbon  and 
oxygen  and  nitrogen  and  potash  and  other 
elements  of  the  tree  to  the  required  spot. 
And  then  how  many  agencies  were  brought 
to  bear  to  produce  the  ripened  leaf,  at  the 


CAUSE  147 

particular  time  when  the  extra  force  of  the 
particular  air  had  strength  enough  to  carry  it 
from  its  branch.  This  glimpse  of  a  few  of 
the  causes  of  one  leaf's  fall  shows  their  com- 
plication to  be  beyond  the  comprehension  of 
any  save  an  infinite  intelligence.  But  never- 
theless the  leaf  has  fallen,  the  event  has  taken 
place  by  virtue  of  other  events  spreading 
abroad  in  every  direction  of  space  and  ex- 
tending back  in  time  to  where  they  are  lost 
in  the  confines  of  eternity. 

Science  likewise  renders  it  sure  and  cer- 
tain that  the  falling  of  even  one  leaf  produces 
effects  which  have  never  an  end  in  producing 
other  effects.  One  cannot  remember  a  single 
event  which  has  not  been  produced  by  some 
other  event  or  combination  of  events;  and 
these  of  course  were  likewise  produced  by 
some  cause.  Every  event  therefore  becomes 
a  cause  to  some  subsequent  event,  and  every 
cause  was  beforetime  an  efifect.  The  move- 
ment of  the  locomotive  along  its  track,  and 
sailing  of  the  steamship  across  the  ocean,  are 
partly  caused  by  the  events  of  the  carboni- 
ferous age,  when  the  luxuriant  forests  grew 
and  decayed,  and  were  then  packed  in  sand 
and  clay,  to  await,  in  the  after  ages,  the 
exploring  pick  and  candle  of  the  miner. 
What  countless  other  causes  have  come  mov- 


148        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

ing  through  the  ages  to  bring  about  the  sail- 
ing of  a  particular  ship  from  its  port  on  a 
certain  day  and  hour;  and  yet  they  come  on 
with  the  precision  of  a  well-trained  army  con- 
centrating upon  an  objective  point.  If  any 
one  of  ten  thousand  different  occurrences  had 
been  different  that  ship  had  not  sailed  at 
that  time;  but  they  were  not  different,  they 
were  precisely  as  they  were,  and  therefore  the 
ship  sailed.  Even  in  society,  whose  occur- 
rences have  been  so  complicated  and  confus- 
ing that  even  now  it  is  disputed  if  there  be 
a  science  of  sociology,  the  chains  of  causes 
are  seen  at  work.  We  see  dimly,  to  be  sure, 
but  still  we  see  how  the  events  of  history  are 
brought  about  by  causes  no  less  certain,  al- 
though harder  to  observe,  than  in  the  de- 
partments of  physical  science.  So  it  is  seen 
that  nothing  occurs  to-day  that  does  not  arise 
from  a  concentration  of  causes  at  the  particu- 
lar time  and  place,  which  had  their  beginnings 
in  ages  past.  Unless  we  dare  deny  the  law 
that  every  effect  has  a  cause,  there  seems  no 
escape  from  the  conclusion  that  every  event 
of  to-day  is  the  legitimate,  inexorable  out- 
come of  causes  which  began  to  work  before 
the  earth  was  born  or  ever  the  heavens  were 
formed. 

One  thing  is  the  effect  of  some  other  thing, 


i    '  CAUSE  149 

when  that  which  we  call  the  eflfect  not  only 
invariably  does  follow  that  which  we  know  as 
the  cause,  but  must  follow  it.     The  paling  of 
the  stars  invariably  precedes  the  rising  of  the 
sun,  but  the  paling  of  the  stars  is  not  the  cause 
of  the  rising  of  the  sun,  because  there  is  no 
necessity  in  this  sequence  of  events,  there  is 
no    necessary    connection    between    the    two. 
The  facts  that  the  stars  pale  before  a  brilHant 
display  of  the  aurora  borealis  or  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  full  moon,  that  the  revolution  of 
the  earth  on  its  axis  involves  the  rising  of  the 
sun,  and  many  others  which  will  readily  sug- 
gest themselves,  tend  to  prove  that  the  paling 
of  the  stars  is  not  a  necessary  precedent  to  the 
rising  of  the  sun.     Had  we  no  further  knowl- 
edge on  the  subject  than  that  the  stars  invaria- 
bly first  paled  and  then  the  sun  rose,  we  would 
be  justified  in  believing  the  one  to  be  the  cause 
of  the  other.     Many  a  grave  error  in  human 
afifairs  has  been  made  because  lack  of  knowl- 
edge has  prevented  people  from  knowing  that 
apparently  invariably  preceding  things  were 
not   causes    of  the    events   which    apparently 
invariably  happened  after  them,  because  the 
element  of  necessity  was  absent.     In  determ- 
ining what  preceding  events  are  the  cause  of 
following  events  the  human  observer  is  also 
hampered  by  the  unavoidable  difficulty  of  not 


I50        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

knowing  whether  those  things  which  seem 
invariably  to  precede  other  things  and  there- 
fore are  their  cause,  in  reality  do  invariably 
so  precede  them. 

Two  questions  arise  to  disturb  the  inference 
of  the  invariable  precedence  of  one  of  two 
given  events  by  the  other:  first,  whether  dur- 
ing intervals  when  the  given  occurrences  were 
not  under  observation  they  preceded  and  fol- 
lowed one  another,  as  when  under  observa- 
tion before  and  after  the  intervals;  and  sec- 
ondly, if  the  observation  has  been  continuous 
for  a  certain  length  of  time,  whether  before 
and  after  the  period  of  observation  the  given 
events  occurred  in  the  same  order  as  during 
the  time  of  observation.  This  difficulty  is 
one  of  the  negative  strongholds  of  those  evo- 
lutionists who  contend  that  at  some  time  in 
ages  past  the  living  spontaneously  evolved 
from  the  not-living.  Recognizing  the  indis- 
putable fact  that  no  such  thing  as  spontaneous 
generation  exists  in  the  world  as  we  know  it 
to-day,  their  reply  is  that  it  cannot  be  said 
that  the  order  of  events  which  we  observe  to- 
day in  this  matter  has  always  existed.  At  the 
present  time  we  say  that  all  life  is  caused  by 
some  preceding  life,  that  is  to  say  that  a  liv- 
ing organism  is  the  invariable  and  necessary 
precedent  of  new  life.     Life  has  been  demon- 


i  CAUSE  151 

strated  to  invariably  precede  new  life,  and  we 
conclude  that  it  is  necessary  because  no 
amount  of  observation  or  experiment  has  ever 
disclosed  life  following  any  other  thing,  when 
pre-existing  life  was  absent.  But  of  course 
the  invariability  and  the  necessity  are  both 
inferences  from  our  experience,  or  from  the 
experience  of  those  who  have  preceded  us; 
and  while  this  experience  amounts  to  that 
which  we  know  as  moral  certainty,  it,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  can  never  amount  to  dem- 
onstration. Therefore  the  strict  evolutionist 
who  holds  to  the  theory  that  everything  now 
visible  has  been  evolved  out  of  the  primordial 
star-mist,  without  any  special  creation  at  any 
period  of  the  history  of  the  globe,  cannot  be 
contradicted  when  he  declares  that  while  all 
life  is  now  caused  by  pre-existing  life,  this 
may  not  always  have  been  so,  since  at  some 
period  what  we  now  observe  to  be  the  invari- 
able and  necessary  precedent  of  Hfe  may  not 
then  have  been  either  invariable  or  necessary. 
Our  knowledge  of  cause  and  effect  is  then 
bounded  by  our  experience,  which  enables  us 
to  say  what  events  invariably  and  necessarily 
precede  and  follow  other  events.  Our  con- 
fidence in  certain  events  which  we  call  causes 
producing  certain  events  which  we  call  eflfects, 
is  proportioned  to  our  experience  rendering 


152        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

more  or  less  certain  whether  the  two  given 
events  invariably  and  necessarily  precede  and 
follow  each  other,  and  to  our  inability,  as  a 
result  of  our  experience,  to  disassociate  the 
one  from  the  other,  or  to  conceive  of  the  one 
happening  without  the  other.  The  hunter 
relies  with  every  confidence  upon  killing  the 
oncoming  lion  by  a  bullet  through  the  heart, 
because  the  cumulative  experience  of  the 
human  race  has  been  that  the  piercing  of  the 
heart  is  invariably  and  necessarily  followed  by 
death. 

Of  the  underlying  nature  of  the  relation 
between  cause  and  efifect  we  know  very  little. 
That  the  one  follows  the  other  invariably  and 
necessarily  is  about  the  sum-total  of  our  real 
knowledge.  If,  while  we  explain  why  the 
piercing  of  the  heart  produces  death  and  the 
piercing  of  the  arm  does  not,  we  note  the  ex- 
planation, we  shall  see  that  after  all  what  we 
have  done  is  only  to  show,  first,  that  the  pierced 
heart  or  arm  is  followed  by  certain  other 
occurrences,  and  these  occurrences  by  others, 
and  that  death  follows  as  the  end  of  the  series 
of  events  in  one  case  and  not  in  the  other; 
and  secondly,  that  we  cannot  conceive  of  a 
pierced  heart  disassociated  with  death.  When 
it  comes  to  the  actions  of  certain  poisons  we 
are  at  a  perfect  loss  to  say  why  the  introduc- 


CAUSE  153 

tion  of  these  substances  into  the  animal  sys- 
tem is  fatal  in  its  consequences.  Poisons 
producing  death,  which  leave  behind  no  visi- 
ble effects  of  their  presence,  we  call  obscure 
causes,  merely  meaning  thereby  that  we  are 
unable  to  detect  occurrences  following  their 
introduction  into  the  animal  system,  which 
we  have  been  commonly  in  the  habit  of  find- 
ing preceding  death. 

Knowing  therefore  that  every  event  must 
be  caused  by  preceding,  and  must  itself  be  the 
cause  of  following  events;  and  realizing  that 
cause  is  merely  the  thing  invariably  and  ne- 
cessarily preceding  some  other  thing  which 
is  called  the  effect;  and  further  realizing  that 
our  knowledge  of  cause  and  effect  is  gathered 
from  and  limited  by  our  range  of  observation 
and  experience,  we  are  led  to  the  unavoidable 
conclusion  that  an  infinite  being,  knowing  at 
any  particular  points  the  events  then  occur- 
ring, must  of  necessity  know  with  absolute 
certainty  that  other  events  must  necessarily 
follow  them,  and  then  what  events  must  fol- 
low these,  and  so  on  down  through  the  ages 
into  eternity  future.  Because  the  connection 
between  cause,  that  is  the  preceding  event, 
and  effect,  that  is  the  following  event  is,  as 
has  been  seen,  invariable  and  necessary,  the 
causing   event  must   always   and   ever   bring 


154        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

after  it  the  effect;  the  one  is  inseverably 
linked  to  the  other.  Cause  and  effect  are  like 
an  endless  chain;  when  one  link  is  drawn 
every  succeeding  link  follows  as  a  matter  of 
course;  only  in  the  chain  of  events  there  is 
never  a  break.  The  chain  was  forged  by 
an  infinite  power,  and  a  break  is  as  inconceiv- 
able as  a  breach  in  the  continuity  of  space. 
We  see  a  portion  of  the  chain  passing  before 
us;  on  the  one  hand  it  is  being  drawn  into 
eternity  past,  and  on  the  other  it  is  being 
drawn  out  of  eternity  future.  Thus  to  an 
infinite  intelligence  there  can  be  no  such 
thing  as  past,  present  or  future,  as  the  ideas 
present  themselves  to  the  human  mind.  That 
which  has  been  and  that  which  shall  be  is  as 
certain  and  present  as  that  which  is. 

So  long  as  the  causes  are  not  too  much 
complicated  with  other  causes,  man  himself 
has  no  difficulty  in  foreknowing.  The  mo- 
tions and  positions  of  the  heavenly  bodies  are 
foreknown  with  great  certainty  and  for  long 
periods  of  time,  because  the  necessary  and 
invariable  sequence  of  events  is  comparatively 
simple.  But  one  force  is  acting  powerfully, 
and  man's  experience  has  taught  him  what  the 
causes  of  the  varying  positions  are,  that  is  to 
say  he  has  learned  what  is  the  invariable  ne- 
cessary precedence  and  sequence  of  events  in 


CAUSE  155 

this  limited  field  of  occurrences.  In  gunnery 
the  track  and  striking  place  of  the  projectile 
are  most  accurately  predicted  and  calculated 
upon.  Engineers  have  no  difficulty  in  cal- 
culating, in  advance  of  a  single  stone  being 
laid  or  a  single  rod  placed  in  the  structure  of 
a  bridge,  just  what  span  is  necessary  and  what 
weight  can  be  carried.  The  chemist  is  able 
in  advance  to  say  what  effects  will  follow  the 
mixture  of  certain  elements;  that  is  to  say 
he  not  only  can  predict  but  he  can  foreordain 
with  a  certain  degree  of  precision  what  shall 
result,  for  example,  from  the  ignition  of  cer- 
tain quantities  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen.  In 
the  more  complicated  sequences  in  social  and 
political  life  man  also  exhibits  his  power  of 
foreknowledge  and  predestination.  In  this  he 
certainly  exhibits  the  truth  that  he  was  cre- 
ated in  the  image  of  God.  Every  able  states- 
man, general  and  business  man  is  continually 
ordering  the  events  of  the  future  by  his 
knowledge  of  the  past  and  present.  Given 
the  knowledge  of  certain  moving  events,  and 
these  men  predict  the  events  of  the  future; 
and  by  their  own  efforts  and  dispositions  they 
themselves  bring  about  with  a  considerable 
degree  of  certainty  things  future.  Man  is  of 
course  limited  in  his  ability  to  predict  the 
future  by  lack  of  knowledge;  and  when  the 


156        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

event  has  disappointed  the  diplomat  or  gen- 
eral he  is  frequently  able  to  see  why  he  failed, 
and  his  regret  is  intensified  by  the  fact  that 
lack  of  knowing  something  which  might  have 
been  known  has  caused  a  fatal  miscarriage. 
In  illustrating  the  nature  of  cause  and 
eflFect,  single  chains  of  events  have  been  taken 
for  the  sake  of  illustration.  Of  course  nature 
and  the  affairs  of  men  offer  no  such  single 
chains  of  events;  every  event  brings  in  its 
train  more  than  one  other  event,  and  when 
the  events  are  numerous  the  following  events 
are  in  proportion.  It  is  difficult  to  trace  the 
effects  of  any  given  force,  since  no  force  is 
acting  alone.  There  are  always  forces  acting 
simultaneously,  partly  neutralizing,  partly  for- 
tifying each  other.  The  effects  of  single 
forces  can  only  be  arrived  at  inferentially,  and 
by  making  allowance  for  the  action  of  other 
forces  in  the  produced  events.  All  experi- 
ments upon  the  force  of  gravity  are  disturbed 
by  the  force  exercised  by  the  resisting  air. 
The  actual  path  of  the  projectile  from  the  can- 
non is  the  result  of  not  only  the  force  of  the 
explosive,  but  the  force  of  gravity  and  the 
resistance  of  the  air.  The  force  of  the  ex- 
plosive therefore  can  only  be  computed  by 
allowing  for  the  parts  played  by  the  other 
forces  which  go  to  produce  the  actual  event„ 
Therefore  it  is  that  certain  events,  which  if 


CAUSE  157 

existing  without  concurring  events  would  be 
followed  by  certain  effects,  are  not  so  fol- 
lowed; because  there  is  a  concurrence  of 
causes  or  forces,  and  the  effect  is  the  resultant 
of  their  union.  As  the  concurring  events  or 
causes  multiply  it  becomes  more  and  more 
difficult  to  calculate  the  effect  which  any  one 
would  have  produced  if  acting  alone.  There- 
fore even  when  all  the  causes  are  known  it 
becomes  more  and  more  difficult,  as  they 
increase,  to  predict  what  their  united  result 
will  be.  The  difficulty  is  increased  if  the 
relative  intensity  or  power  of  each  is  not 
known  at  all  or  only  guessed  at.  And  of 
course  the  difficulty  is  once  more  vastly  in- 
creased in  those  cases  where  only  a  part  of 
the  concurring  events  or  causes  is  known. 
Thus  the  difficulties  increase,  until  at  last 
prediction  becomes  an  impossibility,  and  the 
future  becomes  proverbially  uncertain.  In 
the  social  and  moral  world,  man  stands  well- 
nigh  but  not  quite  powerless  to  predict  the 
future,  because  of  the  multiplicity  and  variety 
of  events,  the  impossibility  of  measuring  the 
relative  power  of  each,  and  his  ability  to  note 
but  few  of  them  at  a  time.  Nevertheless, 
even  in  society  enough  is  observed  to  render 
it  certain  that  the  same  inexorable  sequences 
of  events  occur  as  in  more  readily  observed 
departments  of  knowledge;  and  the  best  ob- 


158        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

servers  are  thoroughly  convinced  that  it  is 
only  the  complexity  of  the  problem  that  pre- 
vents the  solution,  that  a  sufficiency  of  knowl- 
edge would  enable  the  future  history  of  poli- 
tical bodies  to  be  as  accurately  predicted  as 
eclipses  of  the  sun. 

But  in  God  of  course  there  can  be  no  lack 
of  knowledge,  and  therefore  no  limit  to  the 
extent  of  his  power  to  foreknow  every  future 
event  as  the  necessary  outcome  of  those  which 
went  before  it.  And  since  infinite  power 
must  be  as  certainly  predicated  of  God  as 
infinite  knowledge,  and  since  it  would  be  ab- 
surd to  withhold  from  God  a  power  of  which 
we  see  the  rudiments  in  man,  we  must  suppose 
that  God  produces  events,  and  that  these 
events  in  their  turn  produce  with  certainty 
other  events,  as  we  have  seen.  And  we  must 
further  credit  God  with  what  the  civil  law 
insists  on  crediting  man — although  in  man's 
case  it  often  does  not  hold  good — the  intend- 
ing of  the  natural  results  of  his  actions.  So 
then  what  is  passing  to-day  and  that  which 
shall  come  to  pass  must  have  been  foreknown 
and  intended  and  foreordained  by  the  Creator 
and  Governor  of  the  universe.  Science  for- 
tifies the  doctrine  deduced  by  the  Westmin- 
ster divines  from  the  Scriptures.  But  what 
has  become  of  man's  free  will?  Let  us  inves- 
tigate this  branch  of  the  subject. 


CHAPTER  X 


FREE   WILL 


It  is  owing  to  this  connection  between  event 
and  event  that  the  evolutionist  is  able  to  trace 
the  history  of  the  earth  and  the  life  upon  it. 
Starting  with  the  early  existence  of  life  upon 
the  earth,  without  inquiring  how  it  began, 
evolution  shows  a  development  of  life  by  the 
action  of  the  forces  of  the  environment,  as- 
sisted by  nothing  within  the  organism  higher 
than  unconscious  reflex  action.  But  there 
would  seem  to  have  come  a  time  when  the 
further  advance  in  quality  of  life  and  grade  of 
living  creature  demanded  a  new  instrument  of 
development.  The  plants  and  the  lower 
animals  had  improved  by  virtue  of  the  various 
influences  of  their  habitat,  acting  in  con- 
junction with  the  unconscious,  non-intelligent 
changes  within  themselves;  but  a  large  factor 
in  the  evolution  of  the  higher  species  of  ani- 
mals has  been  the  exercise  of  intelligence  by 
individuals.  Darwin's  theory  of  natural  selec- 
tion beautifully  explains  many  mysteries  of 
the  progress  of  life;  with  its  shortcomings  we 


i6o        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

have  now  nothing  to  do.  To  his  doctrine 
of  natural  selection,  finding  it  incapable  of 
explaining  many  observed  facts,  he  added 
the  further  doctrine  of  sexual  selection,  which 
just  as  beautifully  explains  further  mysteries. 
He  shows  that  many  more  individuals  of  a 
species  are  created  than  the  habitat  of  the 
species  is  able  to  support  or  the  enemies  of 
the  species  permit  to  survive.  He  shows 
further  that  those  individuals  of  the  species 
possessing  variations  rendering  the  obtaining 
of  food  or  the  escape  from  enemies  more  easy, 
tend  to  survive,  while  the  less  fortunate  mem- 
bers of  the  species  perish;  that  these  variations 
are  transmitted  to  progeny ;  and  that  therefore 
by  this  survival  of  the  fittest  the  species  im- 
proves, until  it  arrives  at  the  highest  attain- 
able adaptability  to  its  surroundings  and  be- 
com.es  as  perfect  as  its  circumstances  will 
allow.  Mr.  Darwin  further  shows  that  in  the 
meeting  between  the  sexes  the  individuals 
select  those  who  are  most  pleasing,  and  that 
the  beauties  of  animals  and  birds  are  largely 
due  to  the  selection  by  birds  and  beasts  of 
mates  most  gratifying  to  each  other  in  attrac- 
tive features. 

In  the  plant  kingdom  the  working  of  the 
principle  of  natural  selection  depends  upon 
what  we  might  call  the  blind  agencies   like 


FREE  WILL  i6i 

heat  and  moisture  and  soil  and  enemies  of 
various  sorts,  acting  to  preserve  the  better 
adapted  and  to  destroy  the  less  adapted;  and 
since  the  tendency  of  plants  and  animals  alike 
is  to  produce  after  their  kind,  the  fittest  not 
only  survive  in  their  own  generation,  but  prop- 
agate those  best  fitted  to  survive  in  the  next. 
But  in  the  animal  kingdom  the  element  of 
choice  is  introduced;  and  whether  relying 
upon  natural  selection  or  sexual  selection  to 
show  the  development  of  the  animal  kingdom, 
Mr.  Darwin  continually  calls  attention  to  the 
intelligent  conduct  of  the  individuals  them- 
selves. It  is  true,  to  be  sure,  that  the  various 
incident  forces  acting  upon  the  species  con- 
spire to  cause  the  survival  of  the  best  equip- 
ped individuals,  without  any  voluntary  action 
on  the  part  of  the  individual.  Weapons  of  of- 
fence and  defence  Vv^ere  developed  in  this  man- 
ner. The  carnivorous  animal  with  the  best 
teeth  and  the  best  claws  had  better  chances 
of  survival  than  those  less  well  equipped 
in  these  particulars.  The  defensive  armor  of 
turtles,  crocodiles  and  porcupines  tended  to 
improve  by  natural  selection  without  any  intel- 
ligent assistance  from  the  animals  themselves; 
the  less  securely  covered  would  more  readily 
fall  a  prey  to  enemies  and  be  destroyed  than 
those   whose   armor  was  more   perfect.     But 


i62        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

in  a  vast  number  of  instances  the  progress 
and  perfection  of  the  species  could  only  be 
attained  through  the  voluntary  actions  of  the 
individual,  all  of  which  involve  the  power  of 
choosing.  The  development  of  the  courage 
of  the  lion,  the  craftiness  of  the  fox,  the  tim- 
idity of  the  hare,  and  the  various  mental  quali- 
ties of  the  different  species  of  animals,  so  ne- 
cessary to  their  success  in  Hfe,  has  depended 
upon  the  intelligent  response  of  the  animal 
to  its  surroundings.  The  more  courageous 
and  crafty  carnivora  would  attack  and  succeed 
in  gaining  food  and  plenty  of  it  where  more 
cowardly  and  less  resourceful  members  would 
perish  for  lack  of  it.  The  scarcity  of  prey, 
which  would  weed  out  the  majority  of  a  gen- 
eration of  animals,  would  leave  surviving 
those  whose  ingenuity  and  daring  surmounted 
the  difficulties  of  obtaining  it.  The  antelopes 
and  deer  whose  better  hearing  gave  notice  of 
approaching  danger,  and  those  whose  fleet- 
ness  of  foot  gave  better  chances  of  escape 
from  it,  would  be  successful  in  using  these 
advantages  in  the  struggle  for  life  in  propor- 
tion to  their  mental  acuteness  in  the  use  of 
them;  the  appreciation  of  certain  sounds 
would  be  useless  without  the  quick  determi- 
nation to  flee.  In  the  struggle  for  existence 
among  the  animals,  life  depending,  as  it  does. 


FREE  WILL  163 

so  largely  upon  food  and  drink,  the  length 
of  life  would  also  depend,  in  a  large  measure, 
upon  the  exercise  of  voluntary  powers  in  the 
search  of  these.  Then  too  the  timely  choice 
of  a  fit  abode,  temporary  or  permanent,  would 
preserve  many  a  flock  or  herd  or  solitary 
animal,  whilst  those  animals  whose  power  of 
rightly  choosing  was  less  largely  developed 
would  perish. 

Therefore  it  is  seen  that  the  play  of  the 
incident  forces  of  nature  upon  a  higher 
species  would  have  little  possibility  of  im- 
proving it  in  the  required  direction,  under 
the  doctrine  of  natural  selection,  were  it  not 
for  these  forces  having  the  power  of  choice 
to  act  upon.  The  power  of  choice  in  the  deer 
to  run  or  stand,  the  power  of  choice  in  the 
tiger  to  charge  or  skulk,  have  been  necessary 
elements  in  the  production  of  that  timidity  in 
the  one  and  that  courage  in  the  other  which 
so  essentially  characterizes  the  species  as  we 
find  them  to-day.  The  mental  characteristics 
in  all  the  higher  animals  are  as  necessary 
parts  of  their  being  as  teeth  and  claws.  Their 
obtaining  the  food  and  shelter  necessary  to 
their  own  existence,  and  the  rearing  of  their 
young,  upon  which  the  existence  of  their 
species  depends,  is  as  dependent  upon  their 
dispositions  as  upon  their  bones  or  muscles. 


i64        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

Were  the  courage  and  timidity  of  the  deer 
and  the  tiger  mutually  transferred,  so  that 
the  tiger  was  ever  ready  to  flee  and  the 
deer  ever  ready  to  fight,  both  would  speedily 
be  destroyed;  the  tiger  because  it  would  not 
dare  attack  the  game  necessary  for  its  sub- 
sistence, and  the  deer  because  its  courage 
would  lead  it  into  dangers  which  it  had  no 
efficient  means  to  successfully  encounter. 
The  forces  which,  acting  upon  animal  intel- 
ligence and  power  of  choice,  have,  by  natural 
selection  and  transmission  of  acquired  traits, 
produced  the  highly  developed  animal  species 
of  the  present  age,  would  have  been  without 
any  effect  whatsoever  in  such  cases  had  they 
found  nothing  to  act  upon  except  the  uncon- 
scious and  the  non-intelligent.  The  house- 
building beaver,  the  honey-storing  bee,  the 
burrowing  mole,  the  flesh-eating  lion  and  the 
grass-eating  ox  could  never  have  developed 
from  and  become  differentiated  from  the  com- 
mon stock  without  their  endowment  of  free- 
dom of  choice,  without  which  the  necessary 
correspondence  between  the  organism  and 
the  environment  could  not  exist. 

Certainly  no  one  will  deny  that  freedom 
of  choice  to  mankind  which  exists  so  univers- 
ally in  the  higher  animals;  nor  can  it  be 
doubted  that  in  the  development  of  man,  free- 


FREE  WILL  165 

dom  of  choice  has  been  as  powerful  and  as 
necessary  an  element  as  it  has  been  in  the 
animals  below  him.  It  is  a  part  of  the  com- 
mon experience  of  every  person  that  his  life 
has  been  full  of  ''partings  of  the  ways";  and 
it  has  been  no  less  a  matter  of  experience 
how  the  exercise  of  choice  has  been  a  domi- 
nant factor  in  the  development  of  his  charac- 
ter and  in  determining  the  progress  and  out- 
come of  his  life.  Many  choosings  have  ap- 
parently made  but  little  difference;  but  it  must 
be  a  person  low  down  in  the  human  scale  and 
of  very  immature  years  who  cannot  look  back 
and  locate  choosings  which  have  powerfully 
affected  his  present  character  and  estate. 
From  the  time  the  child  begins  to  take  note 
of  its  surroundings,  the  chief  method  of  con- 
trolling its  actions  is  the  creation  of  surround- 
ings calculated  to  influence  choice.  Rewards 
are  placed  ahead  of  it  in  the  direction  it  is 
desired  to  pursue,  and  punishments  placed 
on  either  hand.  At  home  and  in  school  the 
same  method  is  pursued,  actual  physical  com- 
pulsion being  rarely  resorted  to.  Choice  is 
relied  upon  to  develop  the  child  in  the  re- 
quired direction.  Civil  government  is  founded 
upon  the  same  system.  In  rare  instances  ac- 
tual physical  restraint  or  compulsion  is  re- 
sorted to;  but  for  the  regulation  of  the  vast 


i66        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

and  complicated  affairs  of  state  the  voluntary- 
choice  of  the  citizen  is  depended  upon.  The 
whole  policy,  almost,  of  society  is  addressed 
to  the  choice  of  its  members.  Every  election 
illustrates  the  point:  the  electors  are  persuaded 
this  way  and  that,  and  upon  the  result  of 
the  persuasion  depends  the  future  policy  of 
the  government  in  this  direction  and  in  that. 
The  written  laws  likewise  address  themselves 
to  the  judgment,  patriotism  and  morality  of 
the  people,  it  being  assumed  as  a  necessary 
postulate  of  civilized  government  that  the 
people  will  choose  that  v/hich  is  wise,  loyal 
and  just.  Without  this  freedom  of  choice  no 
progress  has  ever  been  made  in  civilization 
and  in  systems  of  government.  Even  under 
the  most  arbitrary  of  tyrants  the  reliance  must 
even  yet  be  upon  the  power  of  choosing  in- 
herent in  the  human  race.  Of  what  avail  the 
punishment  of  the  disobedient  or  the  reward 
of  the  subservient  if  neither  in  the  one  case 
the  subject  would  choose  to  escape  pain,  nor 
in  the  other  choose  to  obtain  a  reward. 

But  descending  to  the  races  having  but  the 
rudiments  of  government,  we  find  still  abiding 
the  same  freedom  of  will  as  a  condition,  not 
of  progress  merely,  but  of  their  existence. 
The  very  forces  of  nature  surround  the  lowest 
savages     with     choice-compelling     situations. 


FREE  WILL  167 

The  struggle  for  existence  teaches  the  lowest 
human  intelligence  the  advantages  of  co-oper- 
ation, whether  it  be  for  the  purpose  of  secur- 
ing adequate  shelter,  the  running  down  of 
sufficient  game,  or  the  providing  of  efficient 
means  of  protection  against  enemies.  Those 
who  choose  to  co-operate  with  each  other, 
yielding  a  measure  of  absolute  personal  free- 
dom for  a  commensurate  advantage  in  the 
struggle  for  life,  tend  to  survive;  and  those 
who  do  not  so  choose  either  perish  or  remain 
in  the  lowest  state.  And  if  it  be  possible  to 
conceive  of  a  solitary  savage  shunning  the 
society  of  his  fellows,  even  he  is  not  able  to 
flee  from  the  power  of  choice  within  him,  any 
more  than  he  would  be  able  to  get  rid  of  his 
shadow.  He  must  choose  to  hunt  when  the 
conditions  are  favorable,  and  to  prepare  for 
the  day  of  scarcity,  or  perish  from  the  earth. 
He  must  decide  between  pros  and  cons  of 
conduct,  as  surely  and  as  certainly  as  his  most 
civilized  relation. 

As  in  all  grades  of  civihzation  so  in  all 
occupations,  development  and  choice  go 
hand-in-hand,  whether  it  be  in  war,  diplomacy, 
business  or  science.  It  is  a  matter  of  expe- 
rience that  from  the  time  we  begin  to  think 
we  begin  to  choose;  that  every  act  of  our 
lives  has  in  it  an  element  of  choice,  upon  the 


i68        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

exercise  of  which  await  proportionate  success 
and  faihire,  progress  and  retrogression. 

But  with  all  this  choosing  there  is  an  in- 
separable correlative.  As  vision  presupposes 
an  eye,  and  hkewise  as  necessarily  presup- 
poses objects  of  vision,  so  choice  not  only 
presupposes  choosing,  but  objects  of  choice. 
While  no  man  can  rid  himself  of  the  power  of 
choosing  nor  of  the  necessity  of  exercising  it, 
his  choice  depends  upon  the  objects  presented 
to  it;  no  man  can  choose  what  he  has  not  been 
made  conscious  of;  he  cannot  accept  what  is 
not  offered;  he  cannot  grasp  that  which  is 
beyond  his  reach.  The  present  condition  of 
any  individual  is  the  result  undoubtedly  of 
his  choosing,  but  none  the  less  is  it  also  the 
result  of  what  from  time  to  time  have,  with 
him,  been  objects  of  choice.  He  has  been 
free  to  do  either  this  or  that  or  the  other 
thing  according  to  the  circumstances  at  the 
time  surrounding  him;  he  was  free  to  choose 
from  those  things  then  presented.  From 
time  to  time  two  or  more  ways  were  presented 
and  he  could  pursue  any  of  those  at  the  time 
open.  So  that  at  the  end  of  his  course  he 
finds  himself  in  a  situation  compounded  and 
re-compounded  of  choice  and  opportunity:  and 
these  two  have  ever  created  each  other; 
opportunities    have    both    limited    and    com- 


FREE  WILL  169 

pelled  choice,  and  choice  has  developed  op- 
portunities. It  is  like  wind  and  helm  deter- 
mining from  day  to  day  the  position  of  the 
ship;  the  one  is  from  within  and  the  other 
from  without.  As  the  wind  from  time  to 
time  seems  to  place  at  defiance  the  power  of 
the  helm  to  vary  the  course  of  the  ship,  so  the 
environment  of  man  seems  now  and  again 
almost  to  deprive  him  of  choice ;  the  power  of 
circumstances  is  so  strong  as  to  indicate  al- 
most to  the  point  of  determination  the  course 
that  must  be  pursued.  But  even  in  these  rare 
instances  there  still  remains  an  element  of 
choice.  The  mariner  may  conclude  that  run- 
ning before  the  wind  is  so  full  of  hazard  that 
he  may  choose  to  attempt  to  bring  his  ship 
up  into  the  wind  even  at  the  risk  of  founder- 
ing, and  may  founder  in  consequence  of  his 
choice;  or  he  may  choose  the  running  as  be- 
ing the  less  dangerous;  but  in  either  case  he 
chooses.  So  man  may  turn  in  the  face  of 
the  most  adverse  circumstances,  at  the  risk 
and  even  the  expense  of  death  itself,  or  he 
may  allow  himself  to  drift  or  be  driven;  but 
choice  is  never  absent.  The  situation  where 
circumstances  take  away  the  power  of  choice 
is  inconceivable. 

So  man's  fate  must  ever  depend  upon  the 
two  co-ordinate  forces  of  free  will  and  envi- 


I70        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

ronment;  and  it  cannot  with  truth  be  said 
that  either  one  alone  has  determined  his  con- 
dition. If  it  cannot  be  said  that  he  is  the 
creature  of  circumstances,  neither  can  it  be 
said  that  he  alone  controls  his  course.  For 
not  only  is  his  choice  limited  by  the  objects 
presented  to  it,  but  the  objects  also  them- 
selves control  to  a  degree  the  choice.  The 
thief  who  finds  upon  one  side  of  him  a  pointed 
pistol  and  on  the  other  an  open  door,  must  be 
admitted  to  have  his  choice  of  the  open  door 
controlled  by  his  surrounding  circumstances; 
and  so  in  many  another  less  easily  analyzed 
situation  in  which  man  finds  himself.  In 
fact,  as  before  indicated,  when  speaking  of 
the  development  of  children  and  the  govern- 
ment of  mankind,  the  circumstances  are  very 
frequently  largely  determinative  of  the  choice. 
Men  choose  just  the  same,  and  must  choose, 
but  such  inducements  may  be  presented  on 
the  one  side  and  such  deterrents  on  the  other 
that  the  choice  is  controlled  by  the  objects 
presented.  When  Moses  presented  to  the 
children  of  Israel  life  and  death,  blessing  and 
cursing,  the  intention  was  of  course  that  the 
former  terms  of  these  pairs  of  objects  should 
be  chosen.  Nevertheless,  as  the  future  proved, 
many  chose  death  and  not  life,  cursing  and 
not  blessing,  thus  showing  the  determinative 


FREE  WILL  171 

quality  of  the  choosing  of  man  in  spite  of  the 
most  controlling  nature  of  the  objects  of 
choice  presented. 

But  since  all  the  children  of  Israel  had  the 
same  choice  presented  to  them  at  the  same 
time,  and  some  chose  death  and  others  chose 
life,  we  must  seek  a  further  determining  fac- 
tor of  man's  lot  besides  the  objects  of  choice 
and  the  power  of  choosing.  This  further 
factor  is  found  in  the  disposition  of  the  mind 
to  which  the  objects  are  presented.  The  hen 
and  the  duck  upon  being  placed  upon  the 
edge  of  a  pond  undoubtedly  have  the  power 
of  choosing  to  enter  the  water  or  remain  upon 
the  bank.  The  objects  of  choice  are  the 
same  and  the  power  of  choosing  is  present  in 
both  birds.  The  choice  is  different  because 
of  the  difference  in  disposition  of  the  two 
birds.  The  opportunity  to  walk  with  its  mas- 
ter will  be  eagerly  embraced  by  the  dog  and 
quietly  refused  by  the  cat.  Each  chooses 
according  to  its  inherent  disposition.  Never- 
theless cats,  in  exceptional  cases,  by  training, 
have  so  had  their  dispositions  altered  that  they 
will  follow  persons  to  whom  they  are  par- 
ticularly attached,  through  fields  and  gardens 
"  just  like  dogs,"  thus  showing  how  disposi- 
tion controls  choice.  Among  men  we  find 
the  same  rule  holding  good.     It  may  be  pre- 


172        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

d'cted  in  advance  that  certain  races  will  select 
stuffs  for  their  personal  adornment  of  the 
most  brilliant  and  glaring  colors,  which,  pre- 
sented to  the  refined  taste  of  cultivated  per- 
sons, would  be  rejected.  Among  certain 
people  polygamy  is  chosen  as  an  honorable 
estate  for  man  and  not  derogatory  to  women; 
among  other  peoples  it  is  not  only  a  crime 
upon  the  statute-books,  but  a  state  viewed 
with  abhorrence  and  disgust  by  man  and 
woman  alike.  It  could  therefore  be  safely 
predicted  that  an  offer  to  enter  the  Sultan's 
harem,  which  would  be  accepted  with  delight 
by  almost  any  woman  of  Constantinople, 
would  be  rejected  with  indignation  by  almost 
any  woman  of  London.  Things  which  are 
eagerly  sought  after  by  a  man  in  his  youth 
possess  for  him  no  powers  of  attraction 
years  later;  opportunities  for  them  would  be 
therefore  as  eagerly  sought  at  one  time  as  they 
would  be  disdainfully  rejected  at  another. 
But  every  one  can  multiply  examples  out  of 
his  own  experience  by  the  score.  Tlie  power- 
ful influence  of  disposition  upon  choice  is  a 
matter  of  common  daily  experience.  But  no 
less  certain  is  it  that  disposition  is  itself  the 
creature  of  choosing;  if  disposition  controls 
choice,  so  in  turn  does  choice  mold  disposi- 
tion.    The  effect  of  choosing  certain  things 


FREE  WILL  173 

or  certain  kinds  of  conduct  has  the  effect  upon 
the  person  choosing  of  influencing  him  to 
choose  similarly  again.  Under  the  all-power- 
ful influence  of  countless  daily  choosings 
against  its  promptings,  the  excitable  dispo- 
sitions become  calm,  the  rash  careful,  the 
cruel  gentle,  and  the  cowardly  brave;  and  on 
the  contrary  every  trait  is  strengthened  and 
confirmed  by  each  choice  to  follow  its  dic- 
tates. 

So  man  starts  in  life  endowed  with  this 
subtle  yet  supreme  power  of  choice,  which 
nothing  can  conquer  or  take  away;  but  he 
also  starts  with  a  twofold  environment  of 
physical  objects  and  psychological  disposition. 
Upon  this  environment  depends  largely  not 
only  what  man  does,  but  what  he  is,  so  power- 
ful is  its  influence  upon  him.  Btit  strangely 
enough,  man  through  choice  can  and  does 
act  so  powerfully  upon  his  environment  as  to 
almost  at  times  create  it,  so  that  what  molds 
man  and  controls  him  he  himself  is  to  the 
same  extent  the  creator  of. 

Through  all  this  action  and  reaction  be- 
tween man  and  his  environment,  determining 
the  eventual  characteristics  of  both  man  and 
his  environment,  we  see  the  necessary  part 
played  by  free  will.  Is  man  to  be  directed 
this  way  or  that  by  external  circumstances? 


174        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

Then  the  inducements  must  be  made  greater 
and  greater  upon  the  one  side,  and  the  incon- 
veniences and  pains  greater  and  greater  on  the 
other  side  till  he  chooses  to  move.  Circum- 
stances may  control  man,  but  only  by  acting 
through  his  power  of  choice.  Man's  disposi- 
tion, inherited  or  acquired,  may  powerfully 
determine  his  course  this  way  or  that,  but 
again  it  will  be  by  the  influence  of  this  dis- 
position acting  through  his  power  of  choice. 
Alternatives  will  meet  him  every  moment  of 
his  conscious  existence,  and  by  sheer  force  of 
necessity  he  must  choose  the  one  and  reject 
the  other.  His  disposition  may  and  will 
powerfully  influence  this  choice,  even  in  some 
cases  almost  to  the  point  of  determination, 
but  it  will  still  remain  an  influence  upon 
choice  and  nothing  else;  the  power  to  choose 
remains  an  unaffected  reality. 

But  it  may  be  objected  that  since  circum- 
stances and  disposition  may  exercise  a  con- 
trolling influence  upon  man's  choice,  it 
amounts  to  the  same  thing  as  though  he 
enjoyed  no  choice  at  all.  That  it  is  not  the 
same  thing  we  have  already  seen;  man  can 
choose,  he  does  choose,  nay  more,  he  must 
choose.  Neither  does  it  amount  to  the  same 
thing,  because,  being  possessed  of  the  power 
of  choice,   and  being  unable  to  be  deprived 


FREE  WILL  175 

of  it  either  by  forces  without  or  impulses 
within,  man  is  always  possessed  of  the  means 
of  improvement,  however  weighted  down  by 
his  circumstances  or  hampered  by  disposition. 
Because  environment  is  only  partially  of  his 
own  creation,  only  partially  under  his  control, 
powers  without  himself  may  bring  greater  and 
greater  influences  to  bear  upon  his  power  of 
choice,  until  the  changed  environment, 
changed  mayhap  in  spite  of  himself,  may  over- 
come the  adverse  influence  of  his  own  disposi- 
tion, until  he  will  make  a  choice  looking  to- 
wards his  elevation.  And  this  choosing,  as  has 
been  seen,  may  be  capable  of  so  acting  upon 
his  disposition  that  a  new  series  of  actions  and 
reactions  between  the  man  and  his  environ- 
ment will  take  place,  in  the  direction  of  a 
better  state,  until  at  length  the  old  disposition 
and  its  effects  will  be  reduced  to  infinitesimal 
proportions,  and  each  stage  of  growth  towards 
the  good  be  but  a  preparation  for  things  still 
better.  Man's  free  will  being  a  possession  of 
which  he  can  be  despoiled  neither  by  himself 
nor  another,  he  can  never  be  deprived  of  the 
power  of  responding  to  aid  from  without 
when  it  arrives.  There  is  no  such  thing  as 
the  garrison  having  capitulated  and  the  cita- 
del being  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy  when  the 
relieving  force  has  arrived.      Upon  contem- 


176        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

plation  it  is  apparent  that  the  importance  of 
this  indestructible  quality  of  man's  power  of 
choice  cannot  be  overestimated.  It  not  only 
is  capable  of  saving  him  from  the  evil  influ- 
ences of  his  external  environment,  but  enables 
him  to  be  saved  from  himself. 

The  view  here  presented  involves  the  re- 
cognition of  the  importance  of  the  factors  of 
heredity,  early  training  and  the  surroundings 
of  youth,  as  fully  as  the  practical  experience 
of  mankind  compels  their  recognition.  These 
factors  are  observed  to  have  such  a  powerful 
influence  over  the  lives  of  men  that  they  form 
an  important  basis  of  action  for  all  mankind. 
In  spite  of  many  exceptions  and  passages  of 
individuals  from  one  to  the  other,  the  ranks 
of  society  are  preserved  almost  intact  from 
generation  to  generation.  The  training  of 
youths  in  certain  directions  is  recognized  as 
controlling  in  a  large  measure  their  future 
destinies;  and  the  results  of  the  vast  majority 
of  cases  justify  the  expectations.  The  Mosaic 
law  did  but  declare  what  all  men  can  deduce 
from  experience,  when  it  was  stated  that  God 
visited  the  sins  of  the  fathers  upon  the  chil- 
dren unto  the  third  and  fourth  generation; 
and  all  races  of  men  from  the  savage  to  the 
civilized  have  inculcated  with  infinite  pains 
the  desired  lessons  in  the  rising  generations. 


FREE  WILL  177 

Thus  certain  powerful  influences  upon  choice 
are  given  at  the  start  and  the  individual's  life 
given  its  direction.  In  society  as  in  physics 
a  body  in  motion  tends  to  move  onward  for- 
ever in  a  straight  line;  and  the  more  powerful 
the  early  impulse,  whether  from  disposition 
or  circumstances,  the  more  powerful  must  be 
the  incident  forces  which  will  divert  the  men- 
tal body  from  its  original  direction. 

Recurring  now  to  God's  predestination  and 
man's  free  will.  If  the  events  which  surround 
each  man's  life  are  the  inevitable  results  from 
the  events  which  have  been  from  the  begin- 
ning of  things,  and  if  the  congenital  dispo- 
sition of  each  man  is  the  certain  result  of  the 
lives  of  his  ancestors,  then  both  were  known 
and  foreordained  from  the  beginning,  and 
could  not  be  otherwise,  if  God  be  indeed  God, 
and  if  the  laws  of  the  universe  are  as  the  ob- 
servation of  mankind  has  shown  them  to  be. 
Having  therefore  the  two  elements  entering 
into  the  formation  of  man's  choice  given,  the 
choice  itself  must  be  known.  But  this  does 
not  in  the  least  do  away  with  man's  power  of 
choice  or  free  will,  but  on  the  contrary  de- 
mands it.  The  reason  why,  man's  circum- 
stances and  disposition  being  fully  known,  his 
choice  may  be  predicted  with  certainty,  is 
because  his  choosing  is  free  to  be  acted  upon 


178        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

by  the  forces  concurrently  acting  upon  it. 
Were  the  power  of  choice  absent,  or  were  it 
not  free  to  be  acted  upon  by  circumstances 
and  disposition,  man's  conduct  could  not  be 
predicted  in  accordance  with  any  laws  that 
the  human  mind  is  familiar  with.  An  infinite 
being  may  no  doubt  be  credited  with  the 
power  of  arbitrarily  looking  into  the  future  as 
a  man  would  look  into  a  page  of  a  book  to 
know  its  contents,  without  regard  to  anything 
that  was  before  or  after  the  given  page,  but 
we  cannot  appreciate  or  conceive  of  any  such 
faculty.  It  is  not  here  attempted  to  explain 
either  nature  or  the  Scriptures  by  assumptions 
of  what  may  be  beyond  man's  knowledge,  but 
to  explain  both  nature  and  the  Scriptures  in 
harmony  with  processes  with  which  man  is 
somewhat  acquainted.  Man  being  a  part  of 
nature  and  the  Scriptures  having  been  given 
for  his  enlightenment,  the  possibility  of  this 
is  not  an  unwarrantable  assumption.  There- 
fore it  is  reiterated,  that  only  by  granting  to 
man  in  theory  what  we  note  he  is  possessed 
of  in  fact,  viz.,  free  will,  can  we  explain  pre- 
destination in  accordance  with  any  laws 
known  to  man.  The  astronomer,  knowing 
the  characteristics  of  matter  and  knowing  the 
circumstances  of  the  planets,  that  is  to  say  the 
things    about    them    capable    of    influencing 


FREE  WILL  179 

them,  is  able  to  predict  with  certainty  where 
any  given  one  will  be  at  any  given  time. 
Why?  Plainly  because  they  are  free  to  re- 
spond to  the  influences  of  their  environment, 
are  free  to  react  upon  it.  Were  the  planets 
not  free  to  move  in  entire  obedience  to  their 
own  constitution  and  the  influence  of  their 
surroundings,  foreknowledge  of  their  posi- 
tions would  be  an  impossibility.  So  with 
regard  to  man,  had  he  not  perfect  power  of 
choice  so  that  he  could  act  in  entire  and  exact 
obedience  to  the  forces  influencing  his  move- 
ments, prediction,  foreknowledge  and  pre- 
destination would  be  an  impossibility.  But 
accept  man's  perfect  free  will  and  his  ability 
to  act  in  accordance  with  the  forces  of  his 
environment,  and  his  conduct,  to  one  know- 
ing both  the  play  of  forces  within  and  without 
him,  must  be  as  certain  as  the  position  of  the 
planet  to  the  astronomer.  There  is  then  ab- 
solutely no  contradiction  between  the  doc- 
trine of  predestination  and  the  doctrine  of 
free  will.  The  one  is  complementary  to  the 
other,  and,  so  far  as  can  be  seen,  the  one 
could  not  exist  without  the  other.  There 
seems  to  be  no  escape  from  these  conclusions. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE    REVELATION    OF    LIFE 

It  is  not  improper  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  scientific  inquirer  to  ask  what  need  there 
is  of  a  revelation,  because,  according  to  the 
theory  of  evolution,  natural  agencies  seem 
sufficient  to  produce  the  highest  development 
which  any  species  of  life  is  capable  of;  and 
because  investigation  of  the  facts  of  life,  so 
far  as  they  are  observable,  seems  to  support 
the  theory  of  evolution.  For  while  many 
facts  connected  with  living  organisms  are 
hard  to  explain  in  accordance  with  the  doc- 
trine of  evolution,  and  some  are  now  impos- 
sible of  explanation,  still  the  preponderance 
of  evidence  in  its  favor  is  so  great  that  evolu- 
tion in  some  form  is  the  universally  accepted 
belief  of  educated  men  at  the  present  time. 
The  honest  inquirer  may  therefore  without 
impropriety  ask,  from  the  standpoint  of  evo- 
lution, has  not  nature,  within  itself,  the  means 
of  developing  the  highest  grade  of  life  without 
resort  to  a  miraculous  revelation  from  the 
realm  of  the  supernatural? 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    i8i 

Nor  has  the  world  been  obliged  to  wait  for 
the  discovery  of  evolution,  to  be  confronted 
by  this  same  obtrusive  question,  concerning 
the  need  of  revelation  for  the  highest  develop- 
ment of  the  human  race.  The  student  of  his- 
tory, and  the  observer  of  the  course  of  events 
in  his  own  day,  has  been  puzzled  or  pleased 
(according  to  his  convictions)  to  note  the  high 
attainments  of  certain  men  and  nations  with- 
out knowledge  of  or  without  belief  in  a  super- 
natural revelation.  The  believer  has  endeav- 
ored to  explain  this  state  of  facts  in  conformity 
with  theology,  while  the  unbeliever  has  re- 
garded it  as  one  of  the  impregnable  strong- 
holds of  infidelity.  Let  us  investigate  the 
situation  without  bias. 

What  has  been  the  progress  and  what  have 
been  the  attainments  of  nations,  on  the  one 
hand  without  the  revelation  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  on  the  other  with  this  revelation?  His- 
tory affords  the  best  possible  opportunities 
for  studying  this  question  both  before  and 
since  the  coming  of  Christ.  Before  Christ 
are  the  Greeks,  Romans,  Egyptians,  Baby- 
lonians and  other  civilized  races  of  antiquity 
on  the  one  side  and  the  Israelites  on  the 
other.  Since  the  coming  of  Christ  we  have 
the  so-called  heathen  nations  on  the  one  side 
and  the  Christian  on  the  other.     Let  us  first 


i82        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

consider  the  nations  of  antiquity;  they  are  not 
only  first  in  order  of  time,  but  they  exhibit 
the  problem  in  simpler  form.  We  find  the 
Egy^ptians  a  highly  civilized  race  at  the  very 
dawn  of  history.  Whether  we  gain  our  ideas 
from  the  Scriptures  or  from  the  profane  his- 
torians or  from  monuments  or  mummies  or 
papyrus  rolls,  we  gain  the  same  idea  of  the 
ancient  Egyptians.  They  were  tO'  a  high 
degree  intellectual  and  learned,  they  were  far 
advanced  in  science  and  the  arts  of  civiliza- 
tion; they  were  great,  even  judged  by  the 
standard  of  the  abilities  and  attainments  of 
the  most  favored  people  of  the  present  cen- 
tury. Now  we  not  only  know  the  attainments 
of  the  ancient  Egyptians  in  the  arts  of  govern- 
ment and  warfare,  their  knowledge  of  astro- 
nomical and  mechanical  principles,  their  liter- 
ary ability  and  high  social  status,  but  we  also 
have  details  of  their  religious  beliefs.  We 
are  thus  able  to  say  with  positiveness  that  they 
did  not  have  the  revelation  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures,  and  that  nevertheless  they  reached 
the  highest  intellectual  level  of  the  human 
race.  Whatever  nation  ancient  or  modern 
we  choose  to  use  for  the  purpose  of  compari- 
son, in  intellectual  ability  and  in  garnered 
knowledge  the  Egyptian  stands  easily  among 
the  first.     His  ways  and  his  works  have  com- 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    183 

manded  the  admiration  of  the  greatest  intel- 
lects in  all  ages,  even  down  to  and  including 
our  own. 

The  Hebrew  Scriptures  reveal  to  us  the 
Babylonians  as  a  people  high  up  in  the  scale 
of  power  and  ability  in  war  and  civil  govern- 
ment, standards  of  measurement  of  nations  in 
all  ages.  Herodotus  and  other  ancient  his- 
torians described  the  Babylonians  as  not  only 
excelling  in  military  and  civil  affairs,  but  as 
the  scientific  nation  of  their  times.  In  as- 
tronomy, architecture  and  the  arts  they  stood 
in  the  forefront  of  the  nations  of  their  day. 
To  the  testimony  of  the  historians  is  added 
that  indisputable  evidence  literally  unearthed 
by  the  researches  of  Layard,  Rawlinson  and 
their  co-laborers,  the  evidence  of  the  cylin- 
ders, bricks  and  monuments  of  ancient  Assyria 
and  Babylonia.  The  men  of  Assyria  and 
Babylonia,  as  thus  revealed  to  us,  were  mighty 
men  indeed — mighty  in  intellect  and  science 
as  well  as  mighty  in  valor.  They  were  con- 
querors of  ignorance  as  well  as  conquerors  of 
nations. 

Without  stopping  to  further  consider  the 
attainments  of  their  predecessors  we  come  to 
the  Greeks  and  Romans,  practically  amalga- 
mated in  the  days  of  Christ.  These  wonder- 
ful races  had  gathered  together  and  arranged 


i84        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

for  use  all  the  treasures  of  the  attainments  of 
their  predecessors.  The  stores  of  knowledge 
accumulated  by  Egyptians  and  Phoenicians, 
Assyrians,  Babylonians  and  Persians,  were  all 
gathered  together  by  the  inquisitive  Greek 
and  the  practical  Roman,  and  made  the  means 
of  still  greater  progress  under  their  skillful 
manipulation.  What  have  the  men  of  the 
nineteenth  century  to  boast  of  in  the  way  of 
intellectual  capacity  over  and  above  the  an- 
cient Greek  and  Roman?  Absolutely  noth- 
ing. No  greater  minds  exist  in  our  own  day 
than  existed  in  the  Mediterranean  Basin  in 
the  centuries  before  Christ.  The  generalship 
of  Alexander,  Hannibal  and  Caesar  was  the 
constant  study  and  contemplation  of  the 
greatest  captain  of  this  century.  Napoleon 
declared  that  the  study  of  the  doings  of  these 
men  taught  the  art  of  war.  From  Caesar  to 
Gustavus  Adolphus  nothing  was  added  to  the 
world's  knowledge  of  this  momentous  art,  the 
art  of  war.  In  so-called  modern  times  only 
Gustavus,  the  great  Frederick  and  Napoleon 
are  deemed  worthy  of  association  with  the 
three  great  captains  of  antiquity,  Alexander, 
Hannibal  and  Caesar.  Able  generals  there 
have  been  indeed,  but  only  these  three  have 
pushed  out  the  science  of  war-making  beyond 
the  boundaries  fixed  when  Caesar  fought  his 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    185 

last  battles.  It  is  trite  to  remark  what  every 
schoolboy  hears  often,  that  in  sculpture  the 
Greeks  produced  models  that  artists  have 
even  until  now^  been  struggling  to  equal.  In 
literature  what  genius  of  modern  times  has 
surpassed  the  masterpieces  of  the  Golden  Age 
of  Greece  and  Rome?  How  readily  can  the 
products  of  the  pen  which  can  be  placed 
alongside  of  these  be  counted.  Even  in  this 
practical  time  Greek  and  Roman  literature  is 
regarded  as  a  necessary  element  of  a  liberal 
education.  In  philosophy  we  note  the  same 
state  of  affairs;  ancient  Greeks  brought  forth 
master  minds  in  this  department,  whose 
works  are  as  well  known  to-day  as  they  were 
in  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era.  In 
science  it  is  still  the  same;  we  have  accumu- 
lated of  late  a  vast  store  of  knowledge  of  facts, 
but  in  intellectual  grasp  and  powers  of 
thought  the  philosophers  of  the  present  stand 
not  a  step  in  advance  of  their  predecessors  of 
ancient  times.  Turning  from  the  intellectual 
to  the  moral  side,  the  stern  virtue  of  the 
ancient  Greek  and  ancient  Roman,  before  de- 
bauched with  success  and  power,  has  been 
the  admiration  of  mankind  in  all  ages.  It 
would  be  a  rash  controversialist  who  would 
dare  assert  that  the  ancient  Spartan  and  the 
Roman   of   early   days   did   not   compare   in 


i86        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

moral  virtues  most  favorably  v^ith  the  Italian, 
Spaniard  and  Frenchman  of  the  Middle  Ages ; 
that  Rome  in  the  centuries  preceding  Christ 
did  not  in  moral  atmosphere  compare  favor- 
ably with  the  Rome  of  many  centuries  after 
Christ. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  certain  nations  of 
antiquity  who  were  without  the  revelation  of 
the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  who  either  had  no 
knowledge  of  it  or  utterly  disregarded  it, 
nevertheless  produced  the  very  finest  develop- 
ment of  the  human  race,  a  development  which 
in  most  particulars  has  never  been  surpassed, 
and  regarded  from  a  physical  and  mental 
standpoint  probably  never  will  be.  These  are 
indisputable  facts,  shutting  one's  eyes  to  them 
will  not  obliterate  them. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  Israelites,  as  the 
sole  nation  of  antiquity  favored  with  the  reve- 
lation of  the  Scriptures.  In  the  language  of 
St.  Paul,  "What  advantage  then  had  the 
Jew?  "  Was  the  advantage  one  of  physical 
or  intellectual  superiority,  was  it  superiority 
in  stern  moral  virtue,  was  it  in  knowledge  of 
the  arts  and  sciences,  was  it  in  social  status, 
was  it,  in  a  word,  in  attainments  in  civilization 
as  a  nation  and  in  the  production  of  the  high- 
est examples  of  human  individuals?  The 
answer  to  these  questions  must  certainly  be, 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    187 

no.  Whether  regarded  as  individuals  or  as  a 
nation,  it  cannot  in  the  Hght  of  history  be  con- 
tended that,  as  human  beings,  the  Jews  sur- 
passed their  neighbors  who  had  not  the  reve- 
lation of  the  Scriptures.  They  had  one  great 
general  in  their  very  early  days — David. 
David  and  Solomon  were  great  statesmen, 
and  the  Israelitish  rule  seemed  destined  to 
rival  in  extent  that  of  other  nations  of  ancient 
times,  the  Egyptians,  Assyrians,  Babylonians 
and  Persians.  But  judging  either  by  the 
scriptural  descriptions  or  by  the  known  re- 
sults, the  Israelites  did  not  afterwards  produce 
warriors  or  statesmen  of  the  first  rank.  In 
literature,  indeed,  nothing  finer  has  ever  been 
produced  than  that  which  comes  from  the 
Hebrew.  But  in  architecture  and  all  the  arts 
and  sciences  of  ancient  times  the  Hebrews 
were  only  borrowers  and  adapters.  Even 
their  temple,  the  pride  and  glory  of  the  nation, 
was  due  to  the  craft  of  the  foreign  Phoenician. 
The  history  of  the  Israelites,  as  shown  in  their 
own  writings,  gives  no  glimpse  of  originality 
in  advancing  civilization.  As  a  people  judged 
by  their  neighbors,  they  were  great  neither 
in  the  arts  of  peace  nor  war,  save  only  in  lit- 
erature. As  regards  morality,  as  a  nation, 
they  seem  to  have  been  neither  better  nor 
worse   than   the   nations   surrounding  them. 


i88        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

While  idolatry  was  completely  stamped  out 
by  the  Babylonian  captivity,  the  remedy  ap- 
plied by  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  and  their  suc- 
cessors, of  exact  and  literal  obedience  to  the 
injunctions  of  the  law,  in  the  end  produced 
in  the  nation  at  large  a  narrow-minded,  in- 
tolerant bigotry,  so  that  it  might  almost  be 
questioned  whether  the  remedy  was  not  worse 
than  the  disease.  If  regarded  as  a  friend,  a 
companion,  an  associate,  a  fellow-citizen, 
would  not  most  men  of  to-day  prefer  the 
polished  and  liberal  Greek  or  the  broad- 
minded,  blunt  and  sturdy  Roman  to  the  Jew 
as  exhibited  either  in  sacred  or  profane  his- 
tory in  the  time  of  Christ? 

But  once  again  inquiring  with  St.  Paul,  and 
perhaps  with  an  element  of  doubt  in  the 
inquiry,  "  What  advantage  then  had  the 
Jew? "  the  answer  likewise  is  furnished  by 
Paul.  ''  Every  way :  first  of  all,  that  they  were 
entrusted  with  the  oracles  of  God."  But  this 
simply  restates  our  inquiry  in  other  terms. 
What  was  the  advantage  to  the  Jew  of  having 
entrusted  to  him  the  oracles  of  God  or  the 
revelation  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures?  It  has 
been  seen  by  a  comparison  of  the  attainments 
of  the  Jew,  as  a  specimen  of  the  human  race, 
with  the  attainments  of  his  contemporaries, 
that  while  he  was  in  the  same  class  with  the 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    189 

advanced  nations  of  antiquity,  he  was  not  at 
the  head  of  the  class.  Where  then  shall  we 
look  for  the  advantage  to  him  of  possessing 
the  Scriptures?  The  advantage  lay  in  the 
fact  of  the  spiritualizing  tendencies  of  the 
Hebrew  revelation.  If  the  object  of  the 
Hebrew  revelation  was  to  produce  the  finest 
exemplification  of  the  human  race,  then  his- 
tory must  pronounce  the  result  a  lamentable 
failure,  because  when  Christ  appeared  upon 
the  earth,  the  Greek  and  Roman  peoples, 
judged  by  the  standard  of  human  perfection, 
as  we  would  apply  it  even  at  this  very  day, 
had  completely  outstripped  the  "  chosen  peo- 
ple." And  this  is  just  exactly  the  contention 
of  the  unbeliever;  and  if  the  Christian  accepts 
battle  upon  this  issue  as  he  has  often  done, 
he  must  suffer  defeat,  giving  fresh  zeal  to  the 
enemies  of  the  Church,  and  burdening  even 
the  faithful  with  a  needless  weight  of  doubt, 
discouragement  and  anxiety.  But  if  the  ob- 
ject of  the  Hebrew  revelation  was  not  the  de- 
velopment of  the  human  race  to  ever  higher 
states,  but  the  preparation  of  individuals  of 
that  race  for  the  reception  of  the  life-giving 
impulse  of  the  Spirit,  the  creation  of  that  con- 
dition within  the  soul  of  man  necessary  for  the 
birth  of  a  new  spiritual  being  having  eternal 
life;   if  it  rendered  possible   spiritual   life   to 


I90        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

countless  numbers  of  individuals  under  the 
old  dispensation,  and  was  a  necessary  part  of 
the  world's  preparation  for  the  comprehension 
and  acceptance  of  Christianity,  then  the  He- 
brew revelation  was  an  infinitely  great  and 
glorious  success. 

As  we  know  there  are  two  essentials  for  the 
birth  of  any  new  living  organism:  first  a  pre- 
existing living  being,  and  second  a  suitable 
environment.  If  either  of  these  essential  pre- 
requisites be  wanting,  no  new  living  being 
will  come  into  existence.  As  concerns  the 
birth  of  new  spiritual  creatures,  the  first  con- 
dition is  supplied  by  the  omnipresent  Spirit, 
but  the  suitable  environment  is  limited.  As 
with  all  other  life  generation,  the  pre-existing 
living  organism  may  be  present,  but  the  new 
living  creature  does  not  come  into  existence 
except  within  very  narrow  limits  of  suitable 
conditions.  The  seed  and  the  egg  are  well- 
known  examples;  the  condition  of  the  pre- 
existing life  has  been  fulfilled,  but  it  is  noticed 
that  the  bringing  into  existence  of  new  living 
individuals  depends  upon  very  limited  con- 
ditions of  environment.  Why  should  we  not 
suppose  that  the  essentials  for  the  bringing 
into  existence  of  new  spiritual  individuals 
should  be  similar;  that  the  conditions  per- 
mitting the   creation   of   spiritual   individuals 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    191 

are  confined,  as  regards  environment,  within 
very  narrow  limits;  and  that  while  it  might 
be  possible  for  human  beings  by  chance  to 
bring  themselves  within  these  peculiarities  of 
environment,  the  probabilities  would  be  in- 
finitely against  it,  unless  the  directions  for  the 
creation  of  the  peculiar  environment  were 
revealed  by  the  Power  acquainted  with  its 
conditions?  Let  us  make  the  supposition  for 
the  time,  and  see  how  this  theory  corresponds 
with  the  revelation  of  the  Scriptures  and  the 
teachings  of  science. 

The  theory  propounded  talces  it  for  granted 
that  the  conditions  requisite  for  the  effective 
action  of  the  Spirit  upon  the  human  being, 
to  beget  a  new  spiritual  being,  is  within  the 
control  of  man  himself,  because  the  directions 
for  the  preparation  were  addressed  to  him. 
This  supposition  certainly  corresponds  with 
our  knowledge  of  the  creation  of  new  living 
beings  in  the  various  kingdoms  of  life.  Man 
is  able  to  prevent  the  germination  of  life,  and 
does  do  so  in  countless  cases,  and  this  not- 
withstanding one  of  the  prerequisites  of  new 
life,  the  pre-existing  life,  is  fulfilled.  This  he 
does  by  surrounding  the  pre-existing  life  with 
such  conditions  as  render  propagation  impos- 
sible, or  by  surrounding  the  new  living  germ 
with  such  conditions  as  to  destroy  the  bud- 


192        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

ding  life  before  it  attains  strength  enough  to 
resist  adverse  influences.  He  prevents  the 
sprouting  of  seed  so  long  as  it  suits  his  con- 
venience to  do  so,  by  withholding  from  it  the 
suitable  conditions  of  temperature  and  moist- 
ure; he  prevents  the  propagation  of  the  germs 
of  life  by  uncongenial  degrees  of  heat  and 
cold.  He  multipHes  or  prevents  the  increase 
of  flocks  and  herds  at  pleasure;  and  in  a 
thousand  varying  ways  man  is  continually 
preparing  or  preventing  a  suitable  environ- 
ment for  the  propagation  of  new  life.  Noth- 
ing in  biology,  then,  teaches  us  that  there  is 
anything  improbable  in  the  doctrine  that  man 
should  control  the  preparation  of  an  environ- 
ment necessary  for  the  propagation  of  spiritual 
beings.  On  the  contrary  there  is  much  rea- 
son to  suppose  that  this  power,  which  man 
exercises  with  regard  to  all  the  lower  forms  of 
life,  would  continue  to  be  his  with  regard  to 
the  higher. 

Turning  from  science  to  the  Scriptures,  we 
find  not  only  nothing  against  the  supposition 
contended  for,  but  its  existence  positively 
stated.  The  use  of  the  Old  Testament  Scrip- 
tures and  their  success  in  attaining  their  ob- 
ject becomes  at  once  clear  if  we  regard  their 
injunctions  and  directions  as  directed  towards 
the  creation  of  spiritual  life  and  attainments, 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    193 

and  not  towards  the  development  of  human 
perfection.  And  this  is  the  interpretation  of 
the  Old  Testament  in  the  New,  for,  says  the 
writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  "  These 
all  died  in  faith,  not  having  received  ihe 
promises,  but  having  seen  them  and  greeted 
them  from  afar,  and  having  confessed  that 
they  were  strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the  earth. 
For  they  that  say  such  things  make  but  mani- 
fest that  they  are  seeking  after  a  country  of 
their  own.  If  indeed  they  had  been  mindful 
of  that  country  from  which  they  went  out 
they  would  have  had  opportunity  to  return. 
But  now  they  desire  a  better  country,  that  is 
a  heavenly:  wherefore  God  is  not  ashamed  of 
them  to  be  called  their  God:  for  he  hath  pre- 
pared for  them  a  city."  Paul  also  states  that 
the  citizenship  of  the  Christian  is  not  of  earth, 
but  of  heaven.  The  oracles  of  God,  then, 
while  incidentally  giving  to  the  Jews  the  best 
possible  precepts  for  human  happiness,  were 
chiefly  directed  to  preparing  within  them  such 
a  spiritual-mindedness  as  should  fit  them  for 
obtaining  citizenship  in  the  realm  of  spiritual 
life.  In  the  language  of  Paul,  "  What  if  some 
did  not  believe?  Shall  their  unbelief  make 
the  faith  of  God  without  effect?  God  forbid." 
The  influence  of  the  oracles  of  God  was  in  the 
direction  of  life,  and  they  were  sufficient  for 


194        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE    - 

those  who  entrusted  themselves  to  their  direc- 
tion. Moses  and  David  and  Isaiah  were  filled 
with  a  spirituality  not  exceeded  even  by  the 
apostles. 

But  what  is  the  nature  of  the  environ- 
ment which  is  thus  a  prerequisite  of  the  gene- 
ration of  spiritual  life,  and  which  it  was  the 
office  of  the  Old  Testament  revelation  to  de- 
clare? If  it  be  not  found  in  the  highly  devel- 
oped human  beings  exemplified  by  the  accom- 
plished Egyptian,  the  polished  Greek  and  the 
virtuous  Roman,  or  the  law-abiding  Pharisee, 
of  what  does  it  consist  and  where  shall  we  find 
an  example  of  it?  Is  it  external  to  the  human 
being  or  internal?  It  is  internal  and  may  be 
summed  up  in  one  word — Christlikeness. 
Whether  among  Jews  or  Gentiles,  whether  in 
the  mind  of  the  believer  or  infidel,  the  word 
Christ  brings  before  the  mind  a  character  and 
disposition  which  many  words  would  not 
suffice  to  make  clear.  While  Christ  exhibited 
every  human  virtue,  as  mankind  has  regarded 
virtue,  and  possessed  every  desirable  quality 
of  mind  and  disposition  which  mankind  has 
approved,  there  was  in  him  something  more 
and  different.  There  is  found  in  him  in  per- 
fection those  peculiarities  of  disposition  which 
stamped  Moses  and  Isaiah  as  being  some- 
thing different  from  the  ordinary  law-serving 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    195 

Jew,  something  different  from  even  the  high- 
est developed  members  of  the  ancient  races 
of  men.  The  nature  of  this  environment  is 
made  most  clear  to  us  of  to-day  by  calling  it 
Christlikeness,  but  the  nature  of  it  was  fore- 
shadowed in  the  Old  Testament  from  the 
first.  There  is  a  peculiar  quality  in  even  the 
very  oldest  Old  Testament  revelation,  strik- 
ing even  a  dull  reader,  rendering  it  something 
essentially  different  from  the  writings  and 
teachings  and  sentiments  of  even  the  most 
lofty  heathen  writers.  It  was  indeed  calcu- 
lated to  make  from  Abraham  a  peculiar  peo- 
ple; not,  as  we  have  seen,  pecuHar  in  greatness 
of  conquest,  in  perfection  of  civil  government, 
in  progress  in  arts  and  sciences,  in  the  graces 
of  civilized  life,  nor  yet  in  mere  morality,  be- 
cause in  all  these  things  the  Jews  were  equaled 
and  sometimes  surpassed  by  contempo- 
raneous nations:  but  they  became  a  peculiar 
people  because  there  dwelt  among  them  a 
peculiar  spirituality.  This  word  spirituality  is 
used  for  lack  of  a  better,  it  is  used  to  denote 
certain  qualities  not  developed  nor  indeed 
prized  or  appreciated  by  the  most  highly 
developed  of  the  human  races  except  as  in- 
fluenced by  revelation.  This  spirituality,  as 
exemplified  by  Moses  and  the  prophets  and 
David  the  king,  showed  its  peculiarity  in  its 


196        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

possessor's  reaching  out  towards  something 
beyond  his  race  and  his  time.  Never  was 
there  stronger  national  feehng  than  that  ex- 
hibited in  the  Jewish  race,  but  nevertheless 
this  spirituality  showed  itself  by  a  longing  for 
and  a  reaching  out  after  a  companionship  not 
human,  and  a  looking  forward  to  (as  the  New 
Testament  has  it)  *'  another  country."  It  ex- 
hibited itself  also  in  a  peculiarity  of  thought 
and  deed  and  a  disposition  running  counter 
to  mere  human  feeling  and  indeed  human  in- 
terest. 

The  law  of  Moses  is  regarded  by  many,  if 
not  most,  as  a  mere  compendium  of  ceremo- 
nies and  injunctions  of  civil  law;  but  an 
attentive  reading  disproves  this  conception. 
There  is  running  through  the  whole  law  an 
undercurrent  of  principle  as  a  thing  distinct 
from  the  precept,  and  when  we  come  to  Deu- 
teronomy its  pages  are  fairly  vital  with  a  liv- 
ing, moving  spirit  of  a  higher  life.  The  bur- 
den of  the  book  is,  thus  do  that  ye  may  live. 

The  prophets,  without  in  anywise  going 
counter  to  the  law,  magnified  the  disposition, 
the  state  of  mind  of  man,  indicated  indeed  in 
the  law,  but  almost  overshadowed  by  it.  The 
law  was  indeed  a  schoolmaster,  the  object 
plainly  being  to  cultivate  a  disposition  or 
frame   of  mind  by   exercise   in   those   things 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    197 

which  would  naturally  be  the  outcome  of  that 
disposition.  But  the  prophets  saw  that  some 
of  the  evidences  of  the  thing  were  being  mis- 
taken for  the  thing  itself;  they  therefore  de- 
nounced in  bitter  terms  the  performance  of 
the  acts  without  the  disposition  intended  to  be 
cultivated  by  them.  The  law  enjoined  sac- 
rifice as  the  outward  manifestation  of  obe- 
dience, but  the  law-serving  Jew  ofifered  the 
sacrifice  in  lieu  of  obedience,  and  brought 
down  upon  him  the  denunciations  of  the  pro- 
phets who'  declared  that  mercy  and  not  sacri- 
fice was  pleasing  to  God.  Both  law  and  pro- 
phets were  giving  directions  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  spirituality — Christlikeness. 

But  besides  developing  here  and  there  a 
true  spirituality  among  the  Jews,  the  lawgiver, 
the  psalmist  and  the  prophet  were  instilling 
into  the  Jewish  mind  ideas  of  God  and  of 
spiritual  things  which  should  render  Christ 
intelligible,  and  were  putting  upon  record  acts 
and  experiences  of  mankind,  and  exhibiting 
states  of  mind  and  feeling,  which  were  to 
furnish  a  storehouse  of  illustration,  and  be- 
come in  the  hands  of  Christ  and  his  apostles 
a  ready  means  of  communication  with  the 
generation  in  which  they  lived.  In  reading 
the  New  Testament  it  seems  impossible  to 
conceive  how  its   contents   could   have  been 


198        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

known  to  the  people  in  the  days  of  Christ 
had  there  been  no  Jewish  experience  and  no 
Hebrew  revelation.  The  very  vocabulary 
would  have  been  lacking.  The  Jews  of  the 
days  of  Christ  misinterpreted,  in  many  fun- 
damental matters,  the  law,  the  prophets,  the 
psalms,  but  the  possession  of  the  knowledge 
of  the  oracles  of  God  was  there:  in  most  in- 
stances misapplied,  it  is  true,  but  none  the 
less  actually  possessed  for  all  that.  The  mis- 
interpretation could  be  removed,  but  the  lack 
of  knowledge  would  have  been  fatal.  The 
knowledge  of  the  oracles  of  God  possessed  by 
the  Jews  was  the  common  ground  between 
them  and  Christ,  which  is  necessary  for  all 
argument  and  conviction.  The  embodied 
religious  experience  of  the  Hebrew  race  en- 
abled the  disciples  of  Christ  to  apprehend 
and  sufficiently  comprehend  the  life  and  im- 
mortality which  he  first  brought  to  light;  and 
this  same  experience  enabled  the  disciples  of 
Christ  to  make  plain  to  fellow  human  beings 
what  otherwise  had  been  a  sealed  book. 

But  it  may  be  objected,  this  line  of  argument 
involves  the  idea  that  a  given  amount  of  cul- 
tivation, a  given  grade  of  intelligence  is  neces- 
sary in  the  human  being  in  order  to  receive 
the  spiritual  meaning  of  the  teachings  of 
Christ.     This  may  seem  a  somewhat  startling 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    199 

proposition  to  some,  for  it  rules  out  from  the 
possibility  of  becoming  Christian  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  human  race,  past  and  present;  but 
what  are  the  facts?  The  Israelites  were  un- 
able to  receive  the  teachings  of  Moses  at  the 
time  of  the  Exodus.  The  race  was  moved 
to  flee  out  of  Egypt  by  the  terrible  physical 
hardships  of  a  grievous  bondage;  but  in  har- 
mony with  their  low  order  of  intellect  and 
their  selfish  characters,  they  were  no  sooner 
a  few  days  distant  from  the  burdens  of  their 
servitude  than  savage-like  they  were  consci- 
ous of  nothing  but  present  ills.  And  they 
seemed  so  utterly  incapable  of  learning  any- 
thing of  the  spiritual  nature  of  God,  so  inca- 
pable of  being  controlled  by  anything  that  did 
not  appeal  to  the  grosser  human-animal  feel- 
ings, that  the  edict  went  forth  that  teaching 
them  was  a  hopeless  task,  that  the  develop- 
ment of  the  nation  demanded  the  destruction 
of  those  too  old  to  learn  and  in  their  present 
state  unfit  to  be  trusted  with  the  opportuni- 
ties of  the  promised  land.  We  know  that  the 
debased  Israelites  of  Egypt  perished  rather 
than  be  taught.  Under  the  Judges  what  a 
picture  of  apostasy!  The  Israelites  seemed 
unable  to  distinguish  the  spiritual  Jehovah 
from  the  idols  of  their  neighbors.  Even  after 
the  teachings  of  Samuel  and  David  and  the 


200        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

prophets  of  his  day,  the  ordinary  IsraeHte 
seemed  to  be  totally  unable  to  feel  the  spir- 
itual power  of  his  God.  The  sword  and  the 
pestilence,  the  invading  army,  the  grasshop- 
per and  the  drought  were  the  only  things  that 
appealed  to  their  gross  feelings  and  slow  in- 
telligence. Driven  by  these  tangible  terrors 
out  of  idolatry,  they  for  the  most  part  could 
not  see  in  their  God  anything  higher  than  the 
arbitrary  ruler.  If  this  be  not  so,  how  are  we 
to  interpret  the  history  of  the  Kings  and  the 
denunciation  of  the  Prophets;  and  how  are  we 
to  understand  the  part  of  the  ordinary  Jew  in 
Christ's  life  and  death? 

Turning  to  our  own  times,  what  progress 
have  missions  made  among  the  most  degraded 
tribes?  What  has  been  accomplished  for  the 
Patagonians,  the  Bushmen,  the  Hottentots? 
And  among  higher  races,  has  it  not  been  ob- 
served that  a  certain  grade  of  intelligence,  a 
certain  capacity  of  mind,  a  certain  elevation 
of  disposition  has  been  necessary-  before,  say, 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  could  be  brought 
home  to  the  hearer? 

If  we  regard  the  negro  race  in  the  United 
States  and  study  it  closely,  we  find  that 
the  Christianity  of  the  lowest  class  of  ne- 
groes is  something  horribly  grotesque.  With 
many  of  the  negroes  in  the  Southern  States 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    201 

it  is  impossible  to  cause  them  to  compre- 
hend even  the  commonest  principles  of  mor- 
ality. Their  passions,  desires  and  actions 
are  in  many  particulars  much  more  easily 
compared  with  those  of  cattle  than  with 
those  of  the  ordinary  American  citizen.  It 
is  no  more  possible  to  bring  home  the  spirit- 
ual beauties  of  the  Gospel  to  some  of  these 
beings  than  it  would  be  to  teach  them  the 
principles  of  spectrum  analysis  or  the  phil- 
osophy of  Aristotle  or  Spencer.  As  the  mem- 
bers of  this  race  rise  in  the  scale  of  intelli- 
gence and  cultivation  they  are  enabled  to 
apprehend  more  and  more  of  the  truths  of 
Christianity,  until  when  a  certain  level  is 
reached  we  find  as  noble  and  sincere  Chris- 
tians among  them  as  are  to  be  found  any- 
where in  the  world.  To  reiterate;  the  negro 
of  the  lowest  class  in  the  United  States  is  a 
creature  of  such  habits  and  disposition  as  not 
to  be  fit  to  be  described  in  a  book  for  gen- 
eral reading,  and  it  seems  impossible  to  cause 
this  class  to  take  hold  of  even  the  externals 
of  Christianity;  the  gospels  to  him  are  a  sealed 
book.  Above  these  come  the  class  who  are 
able  to  comprehend  and  apprehend  some  of 
the  broader  principles  of  Christianity,  and  are 
particularly  affected  by  ceremonial  religion. 
They  use  some  of  the  language  of  Christianity 


202        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

and  seem  to  have  imbibed  in  some  degree  its 
elevating  principles;  but  what  they  have  im- 
bibed from  Christianity  is  so  mingled  with 
superstition  and  misapprehension,  and  so  de- 
graded by  minor  vices,  that  the  compound 
shocks  the  ordinary  Christian  when  brought 
into  close  contact  with  it.  Above  this  class 
are  those  who  have  reached  a  stage  of  intel- 
lectual capacity  and  disposition  which  enables 
them,  although  they  may  be  able  to  neither 
read  nor  write,  to  accept  and  love  and  follow 
the  precepts  of  Christ. 

These  indisputable  facts  indicate,  or  rather 
prove,  that  the  human  being,  with  all  the 
mighty  possibilities  which  his  nature  gives 
him,  can  only  come  into  effectual  contact  with 
things  spiritual  when  he  has  made  a  certain 
progress  in  things  human.  Christ  said  to 
Nicodemus,  "  If  I  told  you  earthly  things  and 
you  believed  not,  how  shall  you  believe  if 
I  tell  you  heavenly  things?"  Some  capacity 
for  the  apprehension  of  earthly  things,  a  cer- 
tain human  capacity  is  a  prerequisite  for  the 
attainment  of  the  knowledge  of  heavenly 
things.  We  learn  from  the  Scriptures  that 
the  Church  was  founded  among  the  Jews,  a 
people  of  high  intellectual  powers,  cultivated 
to  a  high  degree,  and  learned  in  all  the  ac- 
cumulated knowledge  of  the  age  and  in  the 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    203 

peculiar  experiences  of  the  Jewish  race.  It 
extended  in  apostohc  times  to  the  boundaries 
of  the  Roman  Empire.  Certainly  these 
things  were  not  accidental.  In  the  fullness 
of  time  Christ  came.  He  came  when  the 
human  race  had  arrived  at  a  stage  of  sufHcient 
cultivation  to  receive  him.  All  writers  on  the 
life  of  Christ  or  the  apostles  agree  in  regard- 
ing the  Greek  and  Roman  civilization  as  a 
preparation  for  the  coming  of  Christ.  They 
might  go  further  and  say  that  without  it,  hu- 
manly speaking,  the  propagation  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  could  not  have  been  effected. 
That  the  Church  should  have  been  founded 
and  progressed  as  it  did,  only  amidst  the 
highly  cultivated  races,  and  that  it  has  been 
confined  ever  since  to  the  same  class  of  men, 
seems  inexplicable  on  any  other  supposition 
than  that  a  certain  level  of  intellectual  capacity 
must  be  reached,  and  that  a  certain  disposi- 
tion of  mind  must  be  attained — in  other  words, 
that  a  certain  amount  of  cultivation  must  ex- 
ist in  the  human  being  before  it  is  prepared  to 
receive  intelligence  of  spiritual  things,  and, 
acting  in  accordance  with  this  intelligence, 
obtain  spiritual  life. 

But  leaving  the  Old  Testament  revelation 
and  its  effects,  let  us  note  the  progress  and 
attainments  of  the  human  race  without  and 


204        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

with  the  New  Testament  revelation.  It  may 
be  said  without  fear  of  contradiction  that  the 
Christian  nations  have  far  outstripped  the 
heathen  nations  in  the  race  of  civiHzation. 
But  the  highly  civilized  state  of  the  Christian 
nations  may  prove  either  one  of  two  things, 
either  that  high  culture  and  great  attainments 
in  the  arts  of  civilization  follow  Christianity 
or  that  Christianity  follows  civilization.  As 
in  many  another  similar  case,  the  truth  prob- 
ably lies  between,  and  the  thing  proven  is  that 
Christianity  and  the  development  of  the  civili- 
zation of  the  human  race  each  conduces  to  the 
other. 

Christianity  found  man  at  his  highest  inde- 
pendent development.  This  development  of 
man  as  a  preparation  for  the  growth  of  the 
spiritual  kingdom  was  necessary,  but  it  was 
accomplished  by  forces  existing  in  the  human 
race  and  in  its  so-called  natural  surround- 
ings. That  the  ordinary  forces  of  develop- 
ment were  sufficient  is  proved  by  the  progress 
made  by  the  nations  without  revelation.  Re- 
velation was  added  to  pre-existing  influences 
not  because  higher  species  of  human  beings 
were  required,  but  because  a  new  kind  of  be- 
ing was  required;  and  the  visible  and  noto- 
rious effect  produced  by  Christianity  upon 
the  human  race  is  the  result  of  the  influence 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    205 

of  this  new  and  superior  upon  an  old  and 
inferior  order  of  beings.  The  so-called  hu- 
manizing of  mankind  since  Christ  is  just  the 
reverse:  it  is  a  spiritualizing.  If  we  wish  to 
find  the  pure  human  characteristics  of  man- 
kind we  must  search  for  them  among  those 
nations  where  revelation  has  not  existed  and 
where  the  Christians  have  not  come  in  con- 
tact with  them.  The  closest  study  of  peoples 
unconnected  with  the  Hebrews  of  ancient 
days  and  the  Christians  of  modern  times  fails 
to  show  what  is  now  comprehended  under 
the  term  "  humane."  The  altruistic  senti- 
ments which  have  developed  in  the  Christian 
nations,  the  sentiment  of  the  brotherhood  of 
the  human  race,  the  great  altruistic  principle 
of  Christ,  ^'  Do  unto  others  as  ye  would  that 
others  should  do  unto  you,"  the  spirit  of 
charity  which  finds  its  expression  in  the  vol- 
untary care  of  the  sick,  the  poor,  the  helpless 
and  the  oppressed — in  a  word,  all  the  so-called 
humanitarian  principles  of  the  present  age, 
were  not  found  in  the  nations  either  before 
or  since  Christ,  outside  the  range  of  the  in- 
fluence of  revelation;  and  inside  this  range 
all  these  principles  are  found  reduced  to  a 
minimum  where  the  true  spiritual  Christianity 
has  waned.  It  is  this  spiritualization  of  the 
human  race  that  constitutes  the  debt  of  the 


2o6        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

world  to  Christianity.  Material  prosperity, 
intellectual  enlightenment  have  undoubtedly 
been  incidents  of  the  Christian  life  in  the 
midst  of  the  peoples,  but  it  is  waste  of  time  to 
dispute  with  the  infidel  whether  these  inciden- 
tal results  can  be  traced  to  Christianity  or  no. 
It  is  the  ennobled  disposition  of  Christian 
civilization  that  creates  the  incalculable  obli- 
gation of  Christian  civilization  to  Christianity. 
That  this  ennobled  disposition  is  possessed 
by  myriads  of  men  who  not  only  do  not  fol- 
low but  with  a  greater  or  less  activity  oppose 
the  Christian  faith,  is  no  argument  against 
the  claims  of  Christianity.  On  the  contrary, 
when  rightly  considered  it  afifords  valuable 
support.  If  the  true  Christians  are  all  mem- 
bers of  a  spiritual  kingdom,  higher  in  percep- 
tions and  corresponding  with  a  broader  envi- 
ronment and  possessing  higher  powers  than 
mere  human  beings,  then  we  should  expect 
that  little  by  little  they  would  effect  changes 
in  the  inferior  race  with  which  they  are 
brought  into  such  constant  and  intimate  rela- 
tions. Every  one  perceives  the  marvellous 
effect  which  man  has  produced  upon  certain 
lower  orders  of  living  creatures.  Who  sup- 
poses for  one  moment  that  the  "almost  hu- 
man "  dog  or  horse  would  be  in  certain  char- 
acteristics so  much  like  their  masters  had  they 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    207 

not  been  in  contact  with  them?  Whence 
have  the  coUies  and  the  setters  their  now  in- 
born characteristics  of  herding  and  hunting? 
Without  dispute  from  the  influence  through 
generation  after  generation  of  man.  All  are 
aware  that  the  highly  improved  races  of  cattle 
and  sheep  and  domesticated  animals  in  gen- 
eral have  arrived  at  their  present  highly  im- 
proved condition,  and  have  become  possessed 
of  many  of  their  characteristics,  through  con- 
tact with  the  human  race.  Why  then  should 
not  the  members  of  the  spiritual  kingdom, 
acting  through  countless  generations  upon 
the  human  race,  have  developed  in  it  certain 
characteristics  of  their  own,  which  the  human 
race  left  to  itself  would  have  had  neither  the 
power  nor  the  inclination  to  develop?  If  the 
principles  of  the  members  of  the  spiritual  race 
are  those  enunciated  in  the  New  Testament, 
and  if  every  person  born  into  the  kingdom  is 
under  biological  laws  bound  to  possess  the 
characteristics  of  his  race,  then  the  members 
of  the  kingdom  must  in  each  succeeding  gen- 
eration possess  the  same  characteristics,  and 
some  of  these  unvarying  characteristics  will 
become  more  and  more  impressed  upon  the 
inferior  race  of  human  beings  until  they  be- 
come hereditary.  Therefore  there  is  nothing 
strange  in  finding  highly  developed  Christian 


2o8        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

or  spiritual  traits  in  human  beings  who  reject 
Christ.  They  have  inherited  these  qualities, 
and  can  only  rid  themselves  of  them  by  the 
same  sort  of  process  as  they  may  rid  them- 
selves of  an  inherited  strong  physical  consti- 
tution. As  in  other  cases  of  living  beings, 
the  inferior  race  sooner  or  later  reverts  to  its 
original  condition  when  removed  from  envi- 
roning influences  which  have  produced  spe- 
cial traits.  So  it  is  discovered  that  men  and 
races,  once  having  many  Christian  character- 
istics, lose  these  characteristics  when  removed 
from  the  Christianizing  influences.  It  is  like- 
wise learned  from  history  and  observation 
that  when  Christianity  degenerates  into  mere 
morality  and  formalism,  when,  in  other  words, 
the  spiritual  life  as  distinct  from  some  of  its 
manifestations  disappears,  the  Christian  vir- 
tues do  not  long  remain  behind.  It  is  plain 
therefore  that  were  the  true  spiritual  beings 
to  disappear  from  the  earth,  the  so-called 
humanizing  tendencies  of  the  human  race 
would  speedily  follow. 

Those  who  by  virtue  of  their  acquired 
spiritual  traits  and  powers  criticise  some  of 
the  doings  and  sayings  of  the  Old  Testament 
people  as  inhuman,  could  they  view  these  in- 
human matters  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
highest  unassisted  human  development,  would 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    209 

doubtless  be  astonished  to  find  their  inhu- 
manity utterly  disappear.  It  is  a  most  com- 
mon characteristic  of  the  human  mind  to  read 
previous  events  and  expressions  in  the  light 
of  subsequent  ones,  and  to  read  into  the  past 
the  experience  of  the  present.  And  thus  it 
happens  that  cultivated  men  of  to-day,  pos- 
sessed of  the  inherited  traits  acquired  from 
Christianity  through  generations,  erroneously 
judge  the  men  of  the  past,  in  whom  spiritual 
forces  had  not  yet  developed  such  well- 
marked  spiritual  traits  as  those  exhibited  in 
themselves.  Mistaking  their  own  induced 
spirituality  for  humanity,  while  contemplating 
themselves;  and  contrariwise  confounding 
human  passions  with  spiritual  influences, 
when  viewing  the  men  of  old;  and  ignoring 
a  fundamental  tenet  of  evolution,  that  it  is 
prodigal  in  its  use  of  time,  they  express  them- 
selves as  much  shocked  that  spiritual  forces 
did  not  produce  upon  the  human  race  as  much 
effect  in  one  generation  as  they  have  in  a 
hundred. 

If  the  history  of  God's  dealings  with  man- 
kind, as  exhibited  in  the  Scriptures,  be  viewed 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  history  of  the 
working  of  natural  forces,  as  revealed  in  the 
book  of  nature,  it  will  be  found  that  the 
method  evinced  is  the  same  in  both.     That 


14 


2IO        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

is  to  say,  certain  forces  are  brought  to  bear 
upon  living  beings,  and  not  at  once,  but  by 
imperceptible  increments,  bring  about  results. 
If  growth  in  nature  does  not  move  in  leaps, 
why  should  we  expect  a  different  rule  when 
regarding  the  effect  of  spiritual  forces  upon 
the  human  race?  Let  it  be  granted  that 
Abraham,  Jacob,  David  and  other  Old  Testa- 
ment saints  exhibited  traits  which,  judged  by 
the  highest  standards  of  to-day,  shock  the 
moral  sensibilities,  what  are  we  to  infer? 
That  the  God  of  the  Hebrew  differs  from  the 
God  of  the  Christian,  or  that  the  principles  of 
the  Old  Testament  oppose  those  of  the  New? 
By  no  means.  As  in  all  other  cases,  we  infer 
that  the  forces  at  work  changed  the  species 
acted  upon  by  slow  degrees.  Moreover,  as  we 
are  compelled  to  measure  movement,  when  it 
is  slow,  not  by  distant  but  by  nearby  objects, 
so  to  gain  correct  information  concerning  Old 
Testament  revelation  and  its  influence  upon 
the  Hebrews  we  must  compare  the  acts  and 
principles  of  the  people  of  Israel  with  those 
of  surrounding  nations.  By  so  doing  we 
discover  that  in  spiritual  qualities,  in  "  hu- 
manity," as  we  in  these  days  term  it,  the  peo- 
ple of  Israel  were  nearer  the  Christian  nations 
of  the  present  day  than  they  were  to  their 
most  civilized  contemporaries.     That  the  men 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    211 

of  Israel  fell  far  below  the  men  of  the  nine- 
teenth Christian  century,  when  measured  by 
the  pure  standards  of  the  Scriptures,  which 
have  become  the  standards  of  civilization,  is 
what  we  should  expect  from  the  laws  of  evo- 
lution to  find. 

But  while  for  that  communion  of  the  Spirit 
with  the  human  life  which  is  necessary  for  the 
generation  of  new  spiritual  beings,  human  life 
must  reach  a  certain  high  level  of  develop- 
ment, and  while  for  this  development  the 
ordinary  evolutionary  forces  seem  to  be  suf- 
ficient, nevertheless  the  needed  preparation 
demands  certain  elements  not  produced  by  the 
ordinary  forces  of  nature.  The  very  highest 
examples  of  intellectual  and  moral  manhood 
have  remained  untouched  by  the  spirit  life  of 
Christianity  both  in  ancient  and  modern 
times.  And  these  examples  may  have  exhib- 
ited in  themselves,  along  with  these  high 
human  traits,  so  many  of  the  characteristics  of 
spirituality  that  it  is  sometimes  not  a  little 
difficult  to  perceive  the  one  thing  which  they 
yet  lack.  The  forces  of  evolution,  natural 
selection,  heredity  and  the  rest  serve  to  secure 
an  ever-increasing  prominence  of  the  com- 
municated spiritual  traits  of  mankind,  so  far 
as  these  traits  may  be  possessed  by  the  infer- 
ior human   race.       Just   as   certain   physical 


212        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

characteristics  of  good  circulation,  or  sound 
tissue,  which  are  the  direct  results  of  that  con- 
duct which  is  the  natural  concomitant  of  cer- 
tain mental  and  moral  qualities,  may  be  trans- 
mitted to  progeny,  which  nevertheless  may 
not  exhibit,  in  any  marked  degree,  the  mental 
and  moral  qualities  which  originally  produced 
them;  so  certain  qualities  of  body  and  mind, 
produced  by  spiritual  influences  of  Christi- 
anity, may  be  transmitted  to  progeny,  who 
nevertheless  never  accept  the  revelation  of 
Christ  nor  obtain  the  life  to  which  it  points. 
It  was  no  doubt  a  cause  of  great  astonishment 
to  the  young  man  who  not  only  recounted 
but  exhibited  in  his  very  person  his  manifold 
virtues  to  Christ,  to  be  told  by  him  that  he 
yet  lacked  something  to  make  possible  his 
entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Much 
more,  probably,  did  it  astonish  the  ordinary 
beholder.  But  there  was  wanting  in  his  char- 
acter some  necessary  element  to  enable  him  to 
receive  the  vital  spark  of  spiritual  life;  and 
lacking  this  one  necessary  element,  for  the 
purpose  of  receiving  the  new  life,  he  lacked 
all.  Thus  many  lack  much  and  all  lack 
something  without  the  teaching  of  revelation. 
The  knowledge  of  the  lacking  elements  of 
preparation  and  the  methods  of  producing 
them  are  furnished  by  revelation.     Therefore 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    213 

while  each  succeeding  generation  exhibits  the 
world  more  and  more  fitted  for  the  reception 
of  Christianity  and  its  spiritual  life,  each  gen- 
eration needs  as  much  as  the  first  the  divine 
revelation.  This  is  the  plain  declaration  of 
the  Scriptures,  for  it  says  there  can  be  no 
salvation  except  through  faith  in  Christ,  and 
how  shall  they  believe  of  whom  they  have  not 
heard,  and  how  shall  they  hear  unless  they 
are  preached  unto?  Each  man  as  an  indi- 
vidual needs  to  be  told  of  Christ  and  his 
revelation  to  prepare  him  for  the  reception  of 
the  life  eternal. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE    NECESSITY    OF    FAITH 

It  may  now  perhaps  be  easier  to  understand 
why  beUef  is  and  must  be  the  keystone  of  the 
arch  supporting  the  Gospel  plan  for  securing 
eternal  life.  For  if  a  revelation  be  necessary 
to  bring  to  light  the  existence  of  a  new  king- 
dom of  life  and  to  teach  the  means  necessary 
to  employ  in  order  to  gain  entrance  into  it, 
then  a  behef  in  the  revelation  becomes  just  as 
necessary. 

Belief  is  the  mainspring  of  all  effective  hu- 
man action.  No  undertaking  is  begun  ex- 
cept there  is  some  belief  that  it  may  be  accom- 
plished; doubt  concerning  accomplishment 
goes  a  long  way  towards  securing  defeat. 
That  confidence  concerning  the  result  goes 
far  towards  bringing  it  about  is  universally 
acknowledged.  Alexander  would  never  have 
conquered  Persia  without  his  belief  that  none 
could  resist  his  power.  Much  is  said  con- 
cerning Napoleon's  belief  in  his  guiding  star, 
but  it  was  Napoleon's  belief  in  his  own  ability, 
his  profound  confidence  in  himself  which  ena- 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  FAITH    215 

bled  him  to  become  the  dictator  of  Europe. 
The   never-failing   source   of   endurance   and 
aggressiveness   in   the   American   Revolution 
was  the  unwavering  belief  of  Washington  in 
the  eventual  success  of  the  colonists.     Wash- 
ington was  a  good  general  and  a  good  states- 
man, but  what  placed  him  in  the  undisputed 
first  place  among  the  great  men  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary epoch  was  the  steadfastness  of  his 
belief.     A  little  variableness  on  his  part  would 
upon  more  than  one  occasion  have  wrecked  the 
cause  of  the  Colonies.    Rarely  has  a  cause  so 
completely  depended  upon  one  man  as  did  that 
of  the  Free  States  depend  upon  Lincoln.  When 
the  war  of  the  rebellion  had  become  a  thing  of 
the  past  and  the  actors  in  it  could  be  viewed 
from   such   a   distance   as   to   measure   their 
heights,  Lincoln  was  seen  to  tower  alone,  al- 
though  he    was    surrounded   by   many   men 
mighty  in  intellect  and  executive  ability.     In 
the  days  between  the  inauguration   and  the 
firing  upon  Fort  Sumter,  Mr.  Lincoln  alone 
and  single-handed  saved  the  Union,  because 
he  alone  had  no  doubts.     The  brilliant  gen- 
erals, statesmen  and  orators,  who  were  the 
leaders  in  the  Republican  party,  were  one  and 
all  seized  with  faintness,  seemingly  aghast  at 
the   logical    outcome    of   the   labor   of   their 
lives.    Lincoln  alone  was  firm  in  the  faith. 


2i6        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

He  then  arose  above  all  and  remained  above 
all.  He  believed  not  indeed  that  God  was 
upon  his  side,  but  that  he  was  upon  God's 
side,  and  that  there  could  be  but  one  out- 
come; and  his  success  was  measured  by  his 
belief.  Who  does  not  know  what  belief  ac- 
complishes in  war?  The  commander's  con- 
fidence in  his  troops,  and  the  soldiers'  belief 
in  the  ability  of  the  commander  are  such 
powerful  factors  as  to  counterbalance  almost 
any  numerical  advantages.  When,  for  in- 
stance, at  the  battle  of  Ruspina,  Caesar  found 
himself  with  ten  thousand  men  in  the  midst 
of  an  open  plain,  attacked  by  sixty  thousand 
men,  one  might  suppose  extermination  in- 
evitable. Many  of  his  army  were  raw  recruits ; 
they  knew  of  the  extermination  of  Curio's 
army  not  long  before,  and  betrayed  by  their 
looks  their  anxiety  for  the  outcome  of  the 
fight.  Nor  were  their  fears  unfounded,  for  the 
flanks  of  the  little  army  could  not  be  protected, 
and  nothing  could  prevent  its  being  out- 
flanked and  attacked  in  front  and  rear.  The 
slightest  knowledge  of  military  affairs  leads 
one  to  know  that  the  one  peculiarly  fatal  thing 
in  war  is  the  enemy  in  the  rear,  but  Caesar 
believed  in  himself  and  his  men  believed  in 
him.  Numbers  therefore  did  not  avail  the 
enemy,  and  victory  once  again  rested  with  the 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  FAITH     217 

legions  of  Caesar.  No  one  can  suppose  that 
this  would  have  been  the  result  had  doubt 
reigned  in  the  place  of  confidence.  Military 
history  is  full  of  examples  of  the  power  of 
belief. 

Men  leave  the  sinking  ship  for  the  boat 
which  comes  to  the  rescue  because  they  be- 
lieve that  they  will  be  lost  if  they  remain,  and 
that  they  will  be  saved  if  they  take  to  the  boat. 
Belief  then  in  this  case  is  just  as  necessary 
for  their  salvation  as  is  the  boat;  a  failure  to 
believe  either  that  the  ship  is  sinking  or  that 
the  boat  will  convey  them  to  safety  will  be 
fatal  to  life.  When  one  is  warned  by  a  friend 
that  the  house  is  on  fire  he  is  indeed  saved 
by  the  friend,  but  just  as  much  by  belief,  be- 
cause had  he  not  believed  in  the  warning  he 
would  have  remained  and  been  lost.  What 
distinguished  Columbus  from  his  contem- 
poraries was  not  superior  knowledge,  but  be- 
lief. The  theory  that  the  world  was  round 
was  not  new  with  Columbus;  he  was  not  the 
discoverer  of  the  idea,  he  simply  believed  in 
it.  Had  he  not  believed  in  the  rotundity  of 
the  earth  he  would  not  have  entered  upon 
his  voyage;  had  he  not  believed  in  the  truth- 
fulness of  the  magnetic  needle,  despite  its  var- 
iation, he  would  have  abandoned  his  voyage. 
Thus  literally  by  his  belief  he  discovered  the 
New  World. 


2i8        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

Nor  need  belief  be  strong  like  Alexander's, 
Caesar's  or  Lincoln's  to  effect  success :  though 
it  be  only  as  a  grain  of  mustard  seed  it  may- 
be sufficient.  It  may  indeed  be  smaller  than 
the  mustard  seed,  invisible  to  beholders,  and 
yet  answer.  The  man  who  deserts  the  steady 
ship  which  gives  no  indication  to  his  inex- 
perienced eye  of  danger  may  scarcely  believe 
the  word  of  the  sailor  that  she  is  sinking; 
again,  the  tossing  boat  alongside  seems  to  him 
almost  certain  to  be  swamped,  nay,  he  may 
be  thoroughly  convinced,  so  far  as  he  is  con- 
scious of  an  opinion,  that  the  boat  will  never 
convey  him  to  safety.  And  yet,  though  he 
may  declare  that  he  expects  to  be  drowned, 
he  must  just  a  little  believe  that  there  is  a 
shadow  of  a  chance  for  safety  or  he  would 
stay  where  he  is.  The  terrified  inmate  of  a 
burning  building  looks  out  from  the  dizzy 
height  to  the  pavement  below,  notes  the  lad- 
der swaying  under  the  weight  of  the  climber, 
and  says  to  himself  he  will  never  be  able  to 
make  the  descent,  but  he  tries  nevertheless 
because  he  believes  just  a  little.  Doubtless 
many  a  soldier  in  the  little  army  on  the  plain 
of  Ruspina  thought  the  chance  more  than 
desperate,  but  still  Caesar  had  found  a  way 
of  escape  from  many  a  bad  place  before,  and 
it  might  be  that  even  now,  desperate  as  the 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  FAITH     219 

situation  seemed,  he  would  save  them.  Men 
toil  for  years  if  belief  in  an  ultimate  success 
holds  out,  but  the  man  absolutely  discouraged 
sinks  into  inactivity.  It  seems  impossible  to 
conceive  of  any  human  action  which  is  not 
the  result  of  some  degree  of  belief.  It  may 
be  weak,  so  weak  as  to  seem  unbelief,  and  yet 
where  there  is  action  it  must  be  present. 

Unbelief  is  fatal  to  success,  to  safety,  and 
ofttimes  to  life,  because  it  causes  the  neglect 
of  the  means  to  secure  or  preserve  them. 
''  He  who  doubts  is  damned "  is  as  true  as 
it  is  trite.  A  man  would  not  even  eat  if  he 
did  not  believe  that  food  would  stay  hunger, 
nor  drink  unless  he  believed  that  water  would 
quench  thirst.  The  Bible  thus  teaches  no 
strange  doctrine  when  it  says  that  belief  is 
essential  to  salvation,  but  when  examined  it  is 
found  to  be  one  which  embodies  the  experi- 
ence of  mankind. 

But  believing  is  important  only  because  it 
leads  to  doing:  it  is  because  if  we  do  not  be- 
lieve we  will  not  act,  and  if  we  do  not  act  we 
shall  not  accomplish,  that  we  must  believe 
or  fail.  It  is  this  belief  which  leads  to  action 
that  constitutes  faith.  For  if  belief  does  not 
lead  to  action  it  is  Hke  the  seed  which  never 
sprouts — it  promises  results  but  yields  none. 
"  Faith  without  works  is  dead."  There  is  no 
efficiency  in  mere  belief. 


220        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

Faith  is  an  action-compelling  force.  Like 
other  forces  it  is  invisible,  intangible,  and  is 
only  known  by  its  effects ;  if  it  produces  effects 
we  know  it  exists,  it  is  present;  if  it  does  not, 
we  cannot  know  it  does  exist  or  is  present. 
That  mere  belief  has  no  saving  efficiency  is 
also  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  same  belief, 
sincere  and  well-founded,  may  be  the  actual 
salvation  of  one  man  and  entirely  fail  to  save 
another.  The  captain  who  by  his  inexcusable 
negligence  has  run  his  vessel  upon  the  rocks, 
and  his  passengers  may  have  exactly  the  same 
belief  that  the  ship  is  doomed,  that  to  remain 
is  death,  that  an  efficient  way  of  escape  is 
provided  by  the  line  from  the  shore.  Yet 
this  identical  belief  saves  the  passenger,  be- 
cause he  wishes  to  escape,  and  may  not  save 
the  captain  because  he  has  no  desire  to  sur- 
vive the  consequences  of  his  fatal  neglect. 
Belief  is  indeed  necessary  for  salvation,  but 
does  not  insure  it.  Only  when  it  is  alive, 
when  it  is  a  force,  when  it  causes  action,  is  it 
of  any  avail. 

Not  even  when  faith  is  an  active  force  is  it 
always  effective  to  produce  salvation.  Just 
as  different  physical  forces  neutralize  and 
modify  each  other's  tendencies,  so  different 
beliefs  neutralize  and  modify  each  other's 
effects.      One   may   have   a   lively   belief   in 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  FAITH     221 

Christ  and  his  teachings  which  prompts  him 
to  pursue  the  way  which  he  is  fully  persuaded 
leads  to  a  better  life.  Now  with  this  belief 
say  there  also  exist  such  others  as  that  there 
is  yet  a  sufficiency  of  time  to  attend  to  these 
matters;  that  it  would  now  be  inconvenient 
and  unnecessary  to  make  a  change ;  that  other 
interests  are,  for  the  present  only,  more  im- 
portant. Any  or  all  of  these  other  beliefs 
may  so  modify  the  effects  of  the  first  that  no 
efficient  action  will  ever  result.  If  such  a  one 
be  saved  he  will  have  been  saved  by  means 
of  his  belief,  but  he  may  be  lost  in  spite  of  it. 
The  tendencies  of  belief  may  also  be  resisted 
by  other  forces  in  the  mind.  One  may  be- 
lieve in  Christ  and  feel  powerfully  impelled 
to  follow  him,  but  resisting  this  impulse  of 
faith  may  be  impulses  of  appetite  and  passion; 
love  of  wealth  or  honor  or  advantage,  hatred, 
malice,  envy,  may  one  or  all  be  impelling 
those  whom  they  possess  in  directions  which 
will  never  lead  to  the  way  of  life.  If  belief 
in  Christ  co-exist  with  these  antagonistic 
forces,  it  may  be  long,  it  may  be  never,  before 
it  overcomes  them.  So  belief  may  fail  to  save 
because  it  is  mere  belief,  and  therefore  dead, 
or  because  it  is  hindered  or  overcome  by  other 
antagonistic  beliefs  and  passions.  Believing 
something,  then,  resolves  itself  practically  into 
doing  something. 


222        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

If  belief  be  considered  as  a  force,  causing 
action,  then  from  analogy  we  should  suppose 
that  different  kinds  of  belief  would  produce 
different  kinds  and  amounts  of  action,  and 
we  should  not  be  surprised  to  find  it  asserted 
that  a  belief  in  Christ  as  a  good  man  will  not 
serve  as  a  substitute  for  the  belief  in  Christ 
as  the  Son  of  God,  as  a  means  of  obtaining 
eternal  life.  The  fire  upon  the  hearth  and  the 
ticking  of  the  clock  above  it  both  cause  mo- 
tion in  the  surrounding  air;  but  how  essen- 
tially different  are  the  final  results.  The  fire 
drawing  the  surrounding  air  to  itself  propels 
it  through  the  chimney  into  the  limitless  re- 
gions of  the  atmosphere,  and  its  field  of  ac- 
tivity thenceforth  is  boundless.  The  ticking 
of  the  clock,  however,  merely  causes  the  par- 
ticles of  air  to  vibrate  to  and  fro  within  the 
four  walls  which  contain  it.  The  ticking 
clock,  though  it  should  keep  the  imprisoned 
air  in  motion  for  a  thousand  years,  would 
never  open  to  it  the  infinite  possibilities  of  the 
outside  world.  The  explosion  of  dynamite 
will  agitate  the  air  for  miles  around,  but  it  is 
nothing  but  agitation;  the  particles  of  air  vi- 
brate to  and  fro  for  a  time,  but  eventually 
come  to  rest  in  the  same  place  which  they 
occupied  when  their  movement  began;  but 
the  rays  of  the  sun  start  the  air  upon  a  jour- 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  FAITH     223 

ney,  the  length  of  which  no  man  can  estimate. 
So  beUefs  may  either  merely  agitate  or  they 
may  propel.  In  the  one  case  the  individual 
may  be  driven  to  great  activity  in  a  limited 
sphere,  but  remain  in  the  end  what  and  where 
he  was  in  the  beginning.  In  the  other  case 
he  may  be  drawn  or  forced  out  of  his  old 
environments,  become  subjected  to  new  and 
different  forces,  and  in  the  end  become  an 
entirely  new  and  different  being.  It  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  success  demands  not 
merely  that  we  do,  but  also  do  enough.  It 
may  well  be  that  one  belief  might  lead  the 
holder  of  it  to  stop  short  of  his  journey's  end, 
to  his  destruction,  while  another  belief  would 
urge  him  on  to  complete  the  journey  before 
he  rested  and  secure  safety.  Belief  in  its  own 
abilities  may  enable  a  garrison  to  repel  the 
first  assaults,  belief  in  their  own  resources  and 
in  that  of  their  leaders  may  hold  them  still 
longer  to  their  work,  but  when  these  are  ex- 
hausted it  may  be  necessary  to  add  belief  in 
sure  and  timely  relief  from  without  to  enable 
them  to  endure  to  the  end  and  be  saved.  The 
truth  is  indeed  mighty,  and  the  mere  pro- 
pounding of  it  has  a  powerful  influence  for 
good  upon  the  hearers  of  it.  We  are  not  sur- 
prised, therefore,  to  find  the  teachings  of  Con- 
fucius, of  Socrates,  of  Plato,  of  Christ,  work- 


224        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

ing  wonders  upon  the  characters  of  men, 
though  unaccompanied  by  any  belief  in  the 
divinity  of  their  origin.  But  in  the  very  na- 
ture of  things  we  should  suppose  that  a  belief 
in  Christ  as  God  omniscient,  omnipresent, 
sympathizing,  considering,  protecting  his  peo- 
ple, would  more  powerfully  influence  the 
holders  of  it  than  would  the  belief  in  Christ 
as  a  human  teacher  of  even  matchless  worth. 
Many  expressions  in  the  Bible  make  faith 
synonymous  with  life,  and  our  ordinary  use 
of  the  word  follows  the  scriptural  example. 
In  a  sense  this  is  correct,  because  without  be- 
lief in  the  means  necessary  to  produce  it  there 
can  be  no  life.  We  make  a  similar  use  of 
language  in  speaking  about  the  life  of  the 
body  and  some  of  its  necessary  concomitants. 
For  example,  we  speak  of  shedding  a  man's 
blood  as  equivalent  to  killing  him  or  taking 
his  life;  we  talk  of  requiring  his  blood  in  ex- 
piation of  some  injury,  meaning  thereby  re- 
quiring his  life;  we  speak  of  his  blood  being 
upon  his  own  head,  meaning  that  he  is  re- 
sponsible for  his  own  death;  we  say,  too,  there 
is  no  breath  in  him,  meaning  no  life,  and  so 
on.  In  other  words,  we  put  for  life  some- 
thing without  which  it  cannot  exist.  In  this 
way  it  is  proper  to  use  faith  and  life  inter- 
changeably, and  it  is  done  constantly  both  in 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  FAITH     225 

the  Bible  and  in  common  speech,  meaning 
only  that  faith  is  a  necessary  concomitant  of 
life.  Faith  may  be  used  synonymously  with 
life  because  faith  leads  to  the  sole  source  of 
life.  The  life-giving  impulses  are  near  at 
hand  and  on  every  hand,  but  man  must  put 
himself  in  contact  with  them  or  life  will  never 
be  his.  Faith  leads  him  to  do  this,  and  thus 
it  is  that  "he  that  believeth  hath  life  and  he 
that  believeth  not  hath  not  life." 

Faith  involves  obedience  and  obedience 
involves  conformity  to  law — conformity  to  the 
forces  which  act  upon  us  and  around  us. 
Belief  does  not  involve  comprehension, 
scarcely  even  expectation;  this  do  and  thou 
shalt  be  saved,  is  the  injunction  and  the  prom- 
ise. Believing  is  said  to  be  a  state  of  mind 
and  beyond  our  control,  and  therefore  a  con- 
ditioning of  salvation  on  belief  is  unjust. 
Very  well,  but  obedience  is  within  our  control 
and  is  all  that  is  required.  Many  entirely 
miss  the  scriptural  conception  of  faith  by  con- 
founding it  with  understanding  or  compre- 
hension. If  man's  inheritance  of  eternal  life 
depended  upon  his  understanding  the  forces 
involved  in  it  his  case  would  indeed  be  hope- 
less. Christ  endeavored  to  show  this  to  Nic- 
odemus,  when  he  likened  the  power  of  the 
Spirit  to  the  wind.     The  efifects  of  the  wind 


226        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

were  easily  seen  and  comprehended,  but  true 
is  it  that  man  neither  knows  whence  it  cometh 
nor  whither  it  goeth,  or  why  it  either  comes 
or  goes.  Modern  science  has  indeed  explained 
much  that  is  mysterious  concerning  the 
winds,  but  after  all  little  is  known  concerning 
the  laws  which  control  the  movements  of  the 
atmosphere.  Yet  something  is  known,  and 
that  something  is  enough;  for  the  mills  grind 
and  the  ships  sail  and  men  regulate  many  of 
the  affairs  of  daily  life  by  taking  advantage  of 
the  force  of  the  wind  and  its  varied  effects. 
The  rude  fisherman  uses  the  force  of  the  wind 
with  not  the  slightest  comprehension  of  whys 
and  wherefores;  enough  for  him  that  the 
winds  blow  and  the  sails  draw;  the  physical 
geographer  with  all  his  knowledge  of  cur- 
rents and  cyclones  might  get  no  more  benefit 
from  it.  So  long  as  the  sailor  properly  ad- 
justs his  sails  to  the  breeze  and  takes  ad- 
vantage of  its  power  he  is  as  well  off  as  though 
he  understood  all  the  laws  of  mechanics.  To 
take  advantage  of  the  power  of  the  wind 
naught  is  required  except  to  note  its  power 
and  to  use  proper  means  to  place  one's  self 
within  the  influence  of  it.  Comprehension 
of  the  nature  of  the  power  is  not  at  all  neces- 
sary. 

That  faith  does  not  involve  comprehension 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  FAITH     227 

is  exemplified  continually  in  the  case  of  the 
student.     The  text-book  is  placed  within  his 
hands:  he  finds  stated  within  it  many  strange 
propositions,  many  a  proposition  which  in  the 
light    of    his    present    experience    seems    so 
utterly  improbable  as  scarcely  to  be  believed 
and  not  at  all  to  be  comprehended.     Is  it  a 
work  on  chemistry,  then  he  may  find  the  state- 
ment  meeting   his   eye   that   if   two   colored, 
solid,     insoluble,     inodorous     substances     be 
united  together  they  will  produce  a  colorless, 
foul-smelHng,  liquid  substance;  and  directions 
are  given  for  uniting  sulphur  and  carbon  to 
produce  bisulphide  of  carbon.     He  performs 
the   experiment   and   lo!   the   result,    strange 
though  it  seems,  is  produced.     Now  in  this 
case  faith  did  not  involve  comprehension,  and 
involved  only  so  much  belief  in  the  possibility 
of  the  result  as  to  induce  him  to  try  the  expe- 
riment.    He  is  further  told  in  the  same  book 
that   an   inflammable   gas    (hydrogen)    unites 
with    another    gas    (oxygen)    in    which    even 
watch-springs  burn  like  tinder,  to  form  water, 
which  is  to  his  mind  the  very  opposite  of  fire. 
He  tries  the  experiment  and  once  more  the 
statement  is  true.     Or  leaving  the  student  of 
science  and  turning  to  agriculture,  the  field 
has    as    many    surprises    as    the    laboratory. 
Why  should  stirring  the  earth  counteract  the 


228        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

effect  of  drought?  To  this  day  scientific  men 
do  not  agree  in  their  explanations,  but  the 
farmer  knows  the  advantage  of  well-tilled 
ground.  The  novice  need  not  understand, 
nor  is  he  expected  to  understand,  nor  is  it 
needful  that  he  should  understand,  but  if  he 
would  succeed  he  must  till.  It  is  hard  to 
divest  ourselves  of  our  experience,  but  why 
should  not  seeds  grow  as  well  on  top  of  the 
ground  as  underneath  it;  and  if  underneath 
it,  why  must  they  be  at  one  depth  rather  than 
another?  What  farmer  understands  these 
things,  and  yet  he  lives  and  the  world  lives  by 
faith  in  the  principles  concerned,  and  faith, 
as  is  seen,  necessarily  involves  obedience. 
The  farmer  may  in  his  mind  be  never  so  well 
convinced  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  till  the 
ground  so  long  as  in  point  of  fact  he  does  till 
it,  and  his  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  tillage  will 
avail  him  naught  provided  his  plough  and  hoe 
are  idle. 

So  it  is  in  regard  to  spiritual  matters;  so 
long  as  the  power  is  recognized,  and  so  long 
as  we  have  information  enough  to  utilize  the 
power,  no  more  is  required,  and  but  little 
more  is  given.  It  is  in  nowise  necessary  that 
we  should  understand  or  comprehend  the 
spiritual  life,  any  more  than  we  should  under- 
stand  the   physical   life   or  the   workings   of 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  FAITH     229 

physical  forces.  Nor  is  it  necessary  that  we 
should  understand  how  certain  means  at  our 
disposal  bring  eternal  life,  any  more  than  it 
is  necessary  for  us  to  understand  how  means 
at  our  disposal  unlock  the  forces  of  nature. 
What  is  necessary  is  that  we  should  first  re- 
cognize the  object  to  be  obtained  and  then 
use  the  means  which  we  are  told  will  secure 
it.  Not  comprehension  but  obedience  is  the 
necessary  thing.  Failure  is  only  to  be  excused 
by  the  impossibility  of  obedience;  but  since 
the  directions  which  we  are  to  obey  are  pos- 
sible to  be  performed  by  all,  since  the  means 
to  be  used  are  within  the  reach  of  all,  and 
since  the  methods  of  using  them  are  within 
the  comprehension  of  all,  there  can  be  no 
excuse.  Where  the  good  to  be  gained  is  very 
great,  and  the  means  recommended  are  to  be 
had  as  by  raising  the  hand,  nothing  save  folly 
unspeakable  can  justify  the  refusal  to  make 
trial. 

But  what  guarantee  attaches  to  the  direc- 
tions of  the  Scripture?  The  same  guar- 
antee which  attaches  to  the  directions  by 
which  man  governs  his  ordinary  life.  Infi- 
nite forces,  the  nature  of  which  are  but  little 
or  not  at  all  understood,  are  in  operation  all 
about  him;  he  believes  in  their  existence  be- 
cause he  sees  their  effects,  and  he  must  regu- 


230        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

late  his  conduct  so  as  to  move  in  harmony 
with  them  at  his  peril.  The  wind  is  not  the 
only  incomprehensible  force  of  which  he  sees 
the  effects  and  of  which  he  takes  advantage 
to  add  to  his  powers  to  make  pleasant  his  life 
and  to  prolong  it.  Heat  and  light  and  sound 
and  the  force  of  gravity,  the  mysterious  vital 
forces  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  world 
touch  his  life  at  every  point;  and  these  and 
other  agencies  he  must  consider  and  act  upon 
continually.  Consciously  or  unconsciously 
he  must  place  himself  in  harmony  with  the 
ever-active  forces  about  him,  or  he  ceases  to 
live  and  that  quickly. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE    MYSTERY    OF    REVELATION 

But  it  may  be  objected  that  the  revelation  of 
a  real  spirit  life  distinct  from  the  ordinary 
human  life  is  full  of  mystery,  that  it  takes  us 
out  of  the  regions  of  fact  and  into  the  realms 
of  fancy.  It  is  no  argument  against  a  thing 
that  imagination  has  been  called  in  to  assist 
in  the  building  of  it.  Without  the  scientific 
use  of  the  imagination  science  makes  little 
progress.  The  poet  and  philosopher  are  near 
akin,  the  difference  being  that  the  latter  must 
submit  his  fancy  to  the  test  of  harmony  with 
fact.  The  very  words  "  soul,"  "  ghost  "  and 
''  spirit "  are  inseparably  connected  with  the 
mysterious,  as  well  they  may  be.  The  mate- 
rial for  forming  hypotheses  concerning  what 
these  words  denote  is  scanty,  and  facts  for 
verification  are  few  indeed.  We  do  not,  how- 
ever, leave  mystery  behind  when,  leaving  the 
products  of  imagination  and  theory,  we  enter 
upon  the  so-called  solid  ground  of  fact.  The 
mysterious  is  not  always  wonderful,  any  more 
than  the  incomprehensible  is  always  strange. 


232        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

It  is  much  urged  against  religion  that  it 
deals  so  largely  in  mystery.  Its  mysterious- 
ness  is  not  to  be  denied.  "  Great  is  the  mys- 
tery of  godliness,"  is  the  Scriptures'  own  de- 
claration. But  so  far  from  its  being  an  ar- 
gument against  rehgion,  it  is  just  the  reverse. 
The  realm  of  science  is  crowded  with  mystery, 
and  its  so-called  knowledge  is  built  as  much 
upon  unverifiable  hypotheses  as  is  religion. 
The  very  ''  facts  "  which  the  skeptic  is  so  fond 
of  referring  to  are  as  thoroughly  wrapt  in 
mystery  as  ever  any  declaration  in  the  Scrip- 
tures concerning  the  unseen  universe.  Even 
those  who  resort  to  materialism  as  the  only 
sure  foundation  rest  themselves  upon  myste- 
ries as  profound  as  anything  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse. What  after  all  does  man  know  of  that 
which  he  calls  matter,  which  seems  so  solid 
and  substantial  to  build  upon?  Whence 
came  it?  There  is  nothing  in  religion  which 
could  any  more  baffle  our  attempts  at  com- 
prehension than  the  mere  existence  of  mat- 
ter. It  is  no  more  difficult  to  believe  in  the 
eternity  of  God  than  the  eternity  of  matter. 
Leaving  matter  and  turning  to  less  tangible 
things  in  nature,  we  find  mystery  still.  Sound 
is  vibration,  science  now  tells  us,  communica- 
ted through  some  appropriate  medium,  be 
it  air  or  water  or  metal  or  what  not.     But 


MYSTERY  OF  REVELATION    233 

we  know  of  sound  only  by  hearing,  which 
science  once  again  tells  us  is  the  communi- 
cation of  these  vibrations  through  the  air  or 
other  medium  to  the  auditory  nerve  and 
thence  to  the  brain.  But  why  this  produces 
within  us  the  sensation  we  call  hearing,  who 
can  tell?  What  impenetrable  mystery  sur- 
rounds what  we  know  as  the  "  correlation  of 
forces  " — the  conversion  of  heat  into  electri- 
city, electricity  into  sound,  sound  again  into 
heat.  We  explain  this  possibility  of  transform- 
ing these  various  forces,  the  one  into  the  other, 
by  calling  them  all  modes  of  motion.  This 
involves  our  filling  by  means  of  our  imagina- 
tion the  universe  with  vibrating  matter.  But 
who  upon  contemplating  the  fact  that  the 
etherial  vibration  called  light,  which  now  is 
entering  his  eye,  left  its  birthplace  on  some 
distant  star  when  the  human  race  still  was 
young,  does  not  feel  the  pressure  of  mystery 
upon  him?  But  whether  we  note  the  germi- 
nating seed,  the  growing  plant,  the  budding 
flower,  the  moving  wind,  the  floating  cloud, 
the  forming  crystal,  the  world  organic  or  inor- 
ganic, life  or  death,  we  find  the  visible  world 
teeming  with  the  marvellous  and  mysterious 
on  every  hand.  Science  is  pushing  out  the 
boundaries  of  knowledge  in  every  direction, 
but  knowledge  everywhere  ends  in  profound 
and  impenetrable  mystery. 


234        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

Therefore  that  mystery  surrounds  religion 
and  that  its  known  principles  pushed  far 
enough  out  lead  to  insoluble  enigmas,  and  that 
its  principles,  seemingly  thoroughly  verified 
in  one  field,  appear  upon  projection  to  con- 
flict with  equally  well-verified  principles  in 
other  fields,  and  that  at  last  we  must  exclaim 
with  the  Psalmist,  ''  Who  by  searching  can 
find  out  God?"  but  makes  the  Word  of  God 
in  thorough  harmony  with  his  works.  To  use 
the  language  of  science,  the  mystery  of  god- 
liness and  the  mystery  of  nature  are  but  dif- 
ferent manifestations  of  the  same  thing.  As 
well  may  the  chemist,  with  the  final  inexpli- 
cability  of  the  atomic  theory  on  his  hands, 
taunt  the  biologist  with  the  "missing  Hnk"; 
as  well  may  the  physicist,  with  the  insoluble 
enigma  of  a  final  explanation  of  the  correla- 
tion of  forces  ever  present  with  him,  make 
sport  of  the  mathematician  who  works  upon 
the  hypothesis  that  a  sufficient  number  of 
straight  lines  can  make  a  curved  one;  as  that 
a  true  philosopher  should  ask  the  Christian 
that  he  should  exhibit  something  to  him  with- 
out mystery. 

The  man  of  science  regards  the  infinite  uni- 
verse about  him  as  an  order  of  things  in  the 
course  of  explanation.  He  does  not  allow 
himself  to  become  oppressed  by  the  infinity  of 


MYSTERY  OF  REVELATION    235 

the  unknown,  nor  does  he  hesitate  to  seek  for 
knowledge  in  one  direction  because  that 
which  he  has  learned  in  another  still  lacks 
completeness.  The  true  philosopher  does  not 
hesitate  to  grasp  and  use  that  which  is  within 
reach  because  of  that  which  is  still  beyond  it. 
The  same  course  should  be  pursued  towards 
religion.  Mystery  in  religion  should  not  be 
regarded  as  a  bar  while  it  is  not  so  regarded 
in  science. 

Turning  from  those  who  object  to  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Scriptures  because  it  abounds 
in  the  mysterious,  we  find  another  class  whose 
objections  are  the  very  reverse — those  who 
admit  the  existence  of  God,  but  claim  that  he 
is  an  impenetrable  mystery.  They  declare 
that  science  points  to  the  Infinite  Unknown 
and  they  do  not  choose  to  combat  the  exist- 
ence of  God.  They  claim,  however,  that  He 
must  be  infinite,  unconditioned,  incapable  of 
definition,  revelation  or  comprehension.  So 
far  from  objecting  to  the  mysterious,  the  ag- 
nostic revels  in  it.  The  agnostic  science  of 
the  present  day  has  been  of  inestimable  advan- 
tage to  Christianity.  It  is  rapidly  driving 
out  of  existence  objections  to  religion  on 
account  of  its  mystery.  In  the  opinion  of 
one  of  the  apostles  of  evolution,  "The  mys- 
tery, which  all  religions  recognize,  turns  out 


236        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

to  be  a  far  more  transcendent  mystery  than 
any  of  them  suspect — not  a  relative  but  an 
absolute  mystery."  Of  ultimate  scientific 
ideas  his  declaration  is  that  they  "  are  all  rep- 
resentative of  realities  that  cannot  be  com- 
prehended." Now  if  these  ideas  sown  by  men 
of  science  take  root  among  the  people — and 
they  certainly  seem  to  be  taking  root — there 
will  soon  be  left  no  place  for  those  who  will 
accept  none  of  what  they  cannot  completely 
understand,  for  it  will  be  common  knowledge 
that  we  can  completely  understand  nothing. 
But  if  the  agnostic  insists  that  God  is  un- 
knowable, he  as  strenuously  insists  on  his  ex- 
istence. Herbert  Spencer  says:  ''Thus  the 
consciousness  of  an  inscrutable  power  mani- 
fested to  us  through  all  phenomena  has  been 
growing  ever  clearer,  and  must  eventually  be 
freed  from  all  its  imperfections.  The  cer- 
tainty that  on  the  one  hand  such  a  power  ex- 
ists, while  on  the  other  hand  its  nature  trans- 
cends intuition  and  is  beyond  imagination,  is 
the  certainty  towards  which  intelligence  has 
from  the  first  been  progressing.  To  this  con- 
clusion science  inevitably  arrives  as  it  reaches 
its  confines;  while  to  this  conclusion  religion 
is  irresistibly  driven  by  criticism.  And  sat- 
isfying as  it  does  the  demands  of  the  most 
rigorous  logic  at  the  same  time  that  it  gives 


MYSTERY  OF  REVELATION    237 

the  religious  sentiment  the  widest  possible 
sphere  of  action,  it  is  the  conclusion  we  are 
bound  to  accept  without  reserve  or  qualifica- 
tion." These  quotations  from  Mr.  Spencer 
express  to  a  hair's  breadth  the  doctrine  of  the 
Scriptures  as  to  the  infinity  of  God  and  the 
utter  inability  of  the  human  intellect  to  com- 
prehend him.  Thus  far  the  Christian  may 
seemingly  travel  the  same  road  with  the  mod- 
ern agnostic,  and  willingly  acknowledge  the 
service  rendered  by  the  lusty  blows  delivered 
right  and  left  amid  the  forces  of  "  science 
falsely  so-called."  He  cannot,  however,  un- 
derstand the  position  of  the  agnostic  when  he 
denies  the  possibility  of  God's  making  a  reve- 
lation to  man  concerning  the  spiritual  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  natural  world.  This  last 
position  of  the  agnostic  seems  to  be  in  com- 
plete contradiction  to  his  own  generalizations 
concerning  ultimate  scientific  and  religious 
ideas,  and  man's  inability  to  comprehend  the 
ultimate  essence  of  things,  either  scientific  or 
religious.  If  it  be  admitted  that  all  the  phe- 
nomena of  nature  are  but  the  manifestations 
of  an  unknown  reality  behind  them  which 
cannot  be  comprehended,  it  must  also  be  ad- 
mitted that  a  comprehension  of  these  phe- 
nomena or  appearances  as  manifestations  of 
the  unknown  reality  sufBces  to  enable  man  to 


238        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

so  order  his  conduct,  as  to  harmonize  with 
the  unknown  as  manifested,  and  thereby  to 
obtain  Hfe  and  happiness.  It  is  in  nowise 
necessary  for  man  to  comprehend  the  infinite 
power  or  cause  which  Hes  behind  things,  as 
they  appear  to  him,  and  forces,  as  they  act 
upon  him  and  about  him.  He  is  well  enough 
acquainted  with  nature  when  he  becomes  ac- 
quainted with  nature  as  manifested  to  him. 
He  is  not  concerned  with  the  ultimate  essence 
of  electricity;  it  suffices  him  to  be  acquainted 
with  the  manner  in  which  the  ultimate  essence 
manifests  itself  to  him.  Philosophically 
considered,  of  the  ultimate  essence  of  things 
natural,  man  can  know  nothing,  since  the 
finite  cannot  comprehend  the  infinite;  but  he 
comprehends  that  portion  of  the  infinite  with 
which,  so  to  speak,  he  comes  in  contact,  and 
with  the  rest  he  is  not  concerned.  It  may 
most  truly  be  said  that  no  person  really  knows 
any  other  person;  all  that  one  person  knows 
of  another  is  the  manifestations  of  that  other. 
The  real  person  behind  the  outward  manifes- 
tations of  conduct  is  as  utterly  beyond  our 
reach  as  that  infinite  power  of  which  natural 
phenomena  are  the  manifestations.  And  yet 
knowing  the  phenomena,  so  to  speak,  of  a 
person — knowing,  in  other  words,  the  con- 
duct of  the  person,  we  know  enough  for  all 


MYSTERY  OF  REVELATION    239 

the  practical  purposes  of  life.  Since  then  all 
our  knowledge  of  things  natural  is  knowledge 
of  the  manifestations  of  those  things  to  us, 
and  since  such  knowledge  seems  to  be  all 
that  is  necessary  for  life  and  happiness,  why 
should  it  be  asserted  that,  albeit  we  cannot 
comprehend  God,  he  cannot  manifest  himself 
to  us;  and  that  man,  knowing  these  manifes- 
tations of  him,  should  not  know  God  just  as 
truly  as  he  knows  a  friend  or  any  other  thing 
in  nature? 

The  infinite  power  has  manifested  itself  to 
human  intelligence  through  the  phenomena 
of  nature.  What  scientific  warrant  is  there 
for  asserting  that  this  power  which  is  infinite 
should  not  manifest  itself  to  human  intelli- 
gence by  words  as  well  as  works?  Why 
should  it  not  have  manifested  itself  to  the 
consciousness  of  man  without  the  interven- 
tion of  known  natural  phenomena,  as  well  as 
through  them?  What  is  there  against  the 
inherent  probability  of  the  infinite  power 
manifesting  itself  to  the  human  race  through 
the  best-adapted  medium,  the  human  organi- 
zation? 

With  the  agnostic,  the  Christian  makes  no 
attempt  to  define  or  to  comprehend  his  infi- 
nite God;  differing  from  the  agnostic,  he  sees 
nothing  either  impossible   or  improbable   in 


240        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

God's  revealing  to  man  such  a  finite  manifes- 
tation of  himself  as  shall  enable  man  to  act  in 
conformity  with  the  laws  of  his  universe,  na- 
tural or  supernatural,  visible  or  unseen.  The 
Christian  admits,  with  the  agnostic,  that  un- 
aided by  supernatural  revelation  he  can  know 
only  of  the  natural;  but  dififering  from  the 
agnostic,  he  sees  no  reason  why  the  infinite 
power  behind  nature  should  not  make  a  reve- 
lation to  beings  within  the  kingdom  of  nature, 
of  things  beyond  the  kingdom  of  nature.  And 
supposing  the  revelation  to  be  made  to  man 
of  things  pertaining  to  a  realm  outside  of 
nature,  he  would  think  it  not  only  probable 
but  necessary  that  intelligence  of  things  su- 
pernatural should  be  rendered  into  terms  na- 
tural. Granting  that  there  is  a  realm  outside 
of  nature,  and  that  a  revelation  of  it  needed 
to  be  made  to  man,  then  it  must  needs  be 
translated  into  human  forms  to  be  compre- 
hended by  human  beings :  in  other  words,  the 
revelation  of  God  to  man,  the  revelation  of 
things  spiritual  to  beings  human,  must  be 
anthropomorphological.  To  recapitulate : 
since  we  know  nothing  of  the  infinite  power 
behind  nature  except  the  manifestations  of 
that  power,  and  since  there  is  no  scientific 
warrant  for  limiting  the  manifestations  of  that 
power  to  natural  phenomena,  and  since  intel- 


MYSTERY  OF  REVELATION    241 

ligence  to  be  communicated  to  human  beings 
must  be  translated  into  forms  of  human 
thought,  and  since  the  most  perfect  medium 
of  revelation  to  mankind  must  be  man,  the 
scriptural  revelation,  and  particularly  the  re- 
velation of  God  through  Christ,  is  not  only 
not  impossible,  it  is  not  even  improbable;  and 
furthermore,  the  anthropomorphological  char- 
acter of  the  religion  of  the  Scriptures,  which 
causes  so  much  unhappiness  to  many,  is  an 
inherent  necessity  of  any  revelation  to  human 
intelligence. 

Let  us  examine  this  mystery  of  the  reve- 
lation concerning  the  infinite  to  finite  man 
a  little  more  in  detail.  Since  the  dawn  of 
philosophical  thinking,  man  has  been  strug- 
gling to  ascertain  the  ultimate  essence  of 
things,  to  learn  something  of  the  great  reality 
which  he  felt  lay  behind  the  appearance  of 
things.  The  endeavor  to  pierce  the  veil  of 
phenomena  or  appearances  and  detect  the 
noumenon,  the  thing  itself  as  distinct  from 
its  manifestations,  appearances  or  phenom- 
ena, has  gone  on  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion. Theory  after  theory  of  the  ultimate 
essence  of  things,  the  great  first  cause,  abso- 
lute being,  God,  call  the  infinite  power  of 
the  universe  what  you  will,  have  been  pro- 
pounded, made  followers,  been  discredited 
16 


242        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

and  become  of  mere  historical  interest.  The 
most  brilliant  intellects  the  human  race  has 
brought  forth  have  in  the  ages  past  devoted 
themselves  to  the  fascinating  study  of  ontol- 
ogy, the  search  after  the  nature  of  absolute 
being.  The  failure  in  this  search  of  the  most 
determined  efforts  of  the  giant  minds  of  the 
past  at  last  caused  it  to  dawn  on  the  philoso- 
phical intelligence  that  phenomena  or  the 
manifestations  of  the  infinite  power  are  the 
only  legitimate  objects  of  study  of  the  human 
mind.  The  efforts  of  the  metaphysician,  in 
his  search  after  the  nature  of  absolute  being, 
seem  destined  to  be  placed  alongside  the 
search  of  the  alchemists  after  the  secret  of  the 
transmutation  of  metals.  We  of  the  present 
day,  while  discarding  the  hopes  of  the  meta- 
physician and  the  alchemist,  inherit  the  great 
negative  results  of  their  labors.  The  tyro  may 
smile  at  the  indefatigable  perseverance  and 
the  exhaustless  enthusiasm  of  these  search- 
ers after  the  impossible,  but  had  there  been 
no  alchemy  there  were  now  no  chemistry, 
and  the  speculator  on  the  ultimate  essence  of 
things  in  the  past  has  made  possible  the  phil- 
osophy of  the  present.  The  alchemist  having 
made  evident  the  impossibility  of  the  trans- 
mutation of  metals,  the  chemist  now  gives 
explanation  of  the  fact;  the  ever  varying  and 


MYSTERY  OF  REVELATION    243 

always  contradictory  results  of  the  metaphy- 
sician having  demonstrated  the  impossibility 
of  defining  the  great  first  cause,  the  psychol- 
ogist now  gives  the  explanation  and  shows 
us  why  the  very  nature  of  our  being  renders 
it  impossible  to  know  anything  whatsoever  of 
the  ultimate  essence  of  things. 

This  explanation  he  for  convenience  has 
labeled  the  "  relativity  of  knowledge."  By 
this  expression  he  intends  to  convey  the  idea 
that  all  we  can  know  of  things  is  the  impres- 
sions they  make  upon  ourselves.  We  really 
know  nothing  of  even  the  simplest  thing  which 
presents  itself  to  our  notice,  except  the  im- 
pressions it  makes  upon  us.  For  example 
we  say  that  the  stone  which  lies  at  our  feet  is 
brown  or  gray,  or  yellow  or  green  as  the  case 
may  be,  and  yet  this  matter  of  color  is  the 
effect  of  the  reflection  from  the  stone  upon  the 
retina  of  the  eye  of  certain  rays  of  light  which 
come  not  from  the  stone  but  from  some  lumi- 
nous body.  In  the  dark  the  stone  has  no 
color  whatever.  The  old  proverb  that  "  all 
cats  are  black  in  the  dark ''  formulates  in 
popular  language  a  scientific  truth.  The 
knowledge  then  of  the  color  of  the  stone  is 
merely  an  impression  upon  the  mind.  What 
real  characteristic  of  the  stone  causes  it  to 
absorb  certain  of  the  rays  of  white  light  fall- 


244        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

ing  upon  it  and  reflect  others  is  unknown 
and  probably  ever  will  be.  That  the  appear- 
ance of  an  object  is  merely  an  impression  and 
is  nothing  more  is  proved  by  the  work  of 
skillful  painters,  who,  with  properly  produced 
effects  of  light  and  shade,  so  simulate  the  im- 
pression produced  upon  the  eye  by  the  objects 
familiar  to  us  that  in  many  cases  the  illusion 
is  perfect  when  viewed  from  the  proper  stand- 
point; sometimes  only  touch  itself  reveals  the 
deception.  The  mirage  is  another  familiar 
example  of  the  lack  of  universality  of  the  state- 
ment that  "  seeing  is  believing."  The  odors 
of  bodies  turn  out  upon  investigation  to  be 
only  the  impression  produced  upon  the  olfac- 
tory nerves  by  particles  of  those  bodies  driven 
off  by  heat:  when  sufficient  heat  is  lacking 
there  is  no  odor.  But  coming  to  the  most 
fundamental,  and  at  the  same  time  most  cer- 
tain means  of  knowledge — touch — we  find 
that  it  furnishes  once  more  only  impressions. 
When  we  feel  of  an  object  presented  to  us, 
what  we  know  is  our  own  sensations  only. 
The  knowledge  that  the  thing  presented  is 
hard  or  soft  or  round  or  square,  upon  inves- 
tigation we  find  is  merely  the  knowledge  of 
the  sensations  conveyed  through  our  nerves 
to  the  brain.  The  idea  that  the  body  is  either 
heavy  or  light  is  the  result  of  the  sensation  of 


MYSTERY  OF  REVELATION    245 

muscular  effort  necessary  to  lift  it.     The  char- 
acteristic of  resistance,  which  is  a  necessary 
concomitant  of  all  matter,  is  known  to  us  only 
by  the  sensation  produced  within  us  by  the 
muscular  effort  put  forth  by  us  to  overcome 
it.    That  the  body  is  in  motion  is  again  merely 
an  impression,  as   is  proved  by  the  familiar 
experience  of  the  impossibility  of  determining 
whether  our  own  train  or  one  in  close  prox- 
imity is  slowly  moving.     Information  regard- 
ing proximity  or  remoteness  and  of  size  are 
found   to  be   due   to   multiplied   impressions. 
When  not  assisted  by  means  with  which  to 
gauge  the  distance,  it  is  impossible  for  one  to 
determine  whether  the  object  seen  is  a  man 
further  off  or  a  boy  near  at  hand.     If  on  the 
other  hand  we  know  the  distance  is  great  we 
decide  in  favor  of  its  being  a  man ;  if  the  con- 
trary, the  decision  is  in  favor  of  its  being  a 
boy.     When  we  feel  of  an  object  we  declare 
it  hot  or  cold,  but  the  knowledge  is  only  of 
sensations  produced  within  ourselves,  because 
as  our  own  hand  is  warmer  or  cooler  the  ob- 
ject felt  of  seems  cooler  or  warmer.     The  rug 
seems  warm  to  the  bare  foot  while  the  wood 
floor  alongside  seems  cold,  yet  the  tempera- 
ture of  both  rug  and  floor  may  be  the  same. 
But  every  reader  may  multiply  examples  to 
show  that  all  our  knowledge  of  everything 


246        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

external  to  ourselves  is  relative  to  ourselves. 
That  is  to  say,  the  only  possible  knowledge 
we  can  have  of  anything  whatsoever  is  the 
impression  which  the  thing  produces  upon  us. 
We  are  conscious  of  something  external  to 
ourselves,  and  we  are  further  conscious  of  the 
manner  in  which  that  something  affects  us. 
And  this  of  necessity  is  all  we  can  know,  and 
it  might  be  added  all  we  need  to  know.  The 
fact  that  if  we  had  further  senses  we  would 
be  conscious  of  other  activities  in  things  about 
us;  or  the  fact  that  things  have  myriads  of 
possibilities  of  effects  not  appreciated  by  us; 
or  that  something  which  we  know  by  one  or 
a  thousand  effects  may  be  producing  a  mil- 
lion which  we  cannot  discern,  is  a  matter  of 
little  consequence  or  even  no  consequence  to 
us.  Out  of  the  infinity  of  possible  activities 
or  relationships  of  anything,  the  only  ones 
which  need  give  us  any  concern  are  those 
which  relate  to  ourselves. 

Since  then  all  man's  knowledge  of  things 
consists  in  a  knowledge  of  their  effects  upon 
himself,  since  his  knowledge  of  all  things  be- 
yond himself  must  be  expressed  in  terms  of 
himself,  he  naturally  and  inevitably  attributes 
to  them  somewhat  of  the  characteristics  of 
his  own  personality.  In  other  words  he  per- 
soniHes  all  things  which  come  within  the  range 


MYSTERY  OF  REVELATION    247 

of  his  observation  or  thought.  Unculti- 
vated races  or  races  in  the  early  state  of  cul- 
tivation picture  to  themselves  all  things  under 
the  form  of  personality.  Mountains,  rivers, 
oceans,  woods,  trees,  winds,  weather,  the 
heavenly  bodies,  the  seasons  and  all  things 
natural,  material  and  immaterial,  are  known 
to  them  in  terms  of  personality.  This  per- 
sonification of  the  things  of  nature  has  been 
universal.  Indeed,  knowledge  of  them  could 
be  formulated  only  by  resorting  to  personi- 
fication. The  immature  intellect  was  consci- 
ous of  ability  to  exert  force  to  build  up,  to 
destroy,  to  remove,  to  be  willing  and  unwil- 
ling to  yield,  to  resist.  These  and  similar 
notions,  gathered  from  his  own  consciousness, 
became  of  necessity  the  only  kind  of  terms  in 
which  he  could  represent  anything  to  his  con- 
sciousness. 

Furthermore,  the  only  way  we  may  know 
anything  is  by  noting  its  likeness  or  unlikeness 
to  something  else.  We  know  a  thing  when  we 
have  observed  it  and  compared  it  with  the  pre- 
viously known,  and  classified  it  according  to  its 
likeness  or  unlikeness.  We  understand  a  new 
phenomenon  when  we  have  compared  it  with 
other  phenomena,  and  on  account  of  its  like- 
ness or  unlikeness  to  other  phenomena  have 
classified  it.     The  only  way  we  may  perceive 


248        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

any  object  is  by  noticing  that  it  is  different 
from  other  objects  surrounding  it.  Our  per- 
ception, for  instance,  of  a  tree  depends  upon 
our  noting  that  it  is  unHke  the  meadow,  the 
stream,  the  clouds  and  the  other  objects  which 
occupy  or  have  occupied  the  attention.  This 
involves  always  comparison.  But  things  in 
order  to  be  compared  must  be  reduced  to 
common  terms;  there  must  be  some  common 
standard  of  comparison.  Yards,  rods,  fur- 
longs and  miles  can  only  be  intelligently  com- 
pared when  all  are  reduced  to  the  common 
terms  of,  say,  feet,  when  the  foot  is  used  for 
the  standard  of  comparison.  Men  and  moun- 
tains do  not  permit  of  comparison  ordinarily, 
but  if  measured  by  the  common  standard  of 
greatness  they  admit  of  ready  comparison. 
The  mountain  torrent  and  anger  cannot  ordi- 
narily be  compared  together,  but  if  destruc- 
tiveness  be  used  as  the  common  measure  they 
admit  of  relationship.  Thus  it  has  happened 
that  the  undeveloped  man  has  been  able  to 
accumulate  knowledge,  by  using  as  the  com- 
mon standard  of  comparison  the  only  one 
within  reach — his  own  personality.  The 
works  and  operations  of  nature  would  have 
remained  forever  an  unrelated  jumble  of  ob- 
servations had  not  man  applied  the  magic 
wand  of  his  own  personality  to  bring  order 


MYSTERY  OF  REVELATION    249 

out  of  chaos,  to  turn  perception  into  knowl- 
edge. The  varying  moods  of  the  ocean,  the 
wanderings  of  the  river,  the  ever-changing 
weather,  the  murmuring  streams,  the  harvest- 
producing  earth,  and  the  countless  other  man- 
ifestations of  nature's  forces,  only  became 
comprehensible  when  compared  with  man's 
own  personality. 

The  means  by  which  man  built  the  foun- 
dations of  knowledge  are  imbedded  in  his 
language.  Peasant  and  philosopher  still  say 
it  rains,  it  snows,  it  will  be  fair  or  foul.  The 
highly  cultivated  designer,  the  master  builder, 
and  the  meanest  ignoramus  in  the  watching 
crowd,  would  all  alike  state,  when  the  great 
ship  remained  upon  the  stays  in  spite  of  every 
efifort  to  launch  her  into  the  water,  that  she 
refused  to  move,  that  she  resisted  all  their 
efforts.  Whence  results  the  expression  of 
chemical  affinity  except  from  the  personifi- 
cation of  the  chemical  elements?  How  can 
any  professor  bring  home  to  the  minds  of  his 
class  the  one  distinguishing  characteristic  of 
nitrogen  more  speedily  and  effectually  than 
by  saying  it  is  an  unsociable  element?  We 
speak  of  the  smiling  fields  and  gloomy  forests, 
the  angry  waves,  the  sullen  roar  of  the  surf, 
the  pitiless  sea,  and  in  numberless  other  forms 
of  speech  tacitly  admit  the  ineradicable  and 


250        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

necessary  habit  of  personification  of  nature's 
works  and  forces.  As  the  immature  races, 
so  also  the  immature  individuals  build  up 
their  knowledge  by  the  ever-ready  and  only 
available  instrument,  personification.  Every 
one  recalls  the  manner  in  which  young  chil- 
dren inject  their  own  personalities  into  inani- 
mate things.  The  door  which  pinches  the 
finger  or  the  chair  against  which  the  head  has 
been  bumped  are  wicked  and  blameworthy. 
Many  a  weeping  child  has  been  stilled  by  a 
whipping  administered  to  some  offending 
door  or  chair.  The  dogs  and  the  cats  are  at 
first  not  strongly  differentiated,  either  from 
the  toys  on  the  one  side  or  human  beings  on 
the  other,  by  the  child.  The  qualities  of  all 
things  external  are  so  closely  identified  with 
the  personal  medium  through  which  knowl- 
edge of  them  is  obtained,  that  only  countless 
succeeding  impressions  show  the  faultiness 
of  the  earlier  impressions.  As  comparisons 
succeed  each  other  in  infinite  number  and 
variety,  the  external  world  is  more  and  more 
differentiated  from  the  personality  of  the  ob- 
server. Whether  in  the  case  of  the  race  or 
the  individual,  as  the  observations  multiply  a 
process  of  de-personification  goes  on.  As 
knowledge  increases  and  as  relationships  mul- 
tiply, and  as  the  relationships  between  exter- 


MYSTERY  OF  REVELATION    251 

nal  things  are  observed,  the  mind  becomes 
equipped  with  standards  of  comparison  less 
and  less  imbued  with  the  personality  of  the 
observer.  The  mature  and  cultivated  man  of 
to-day  no  longer  needs  to  regard  the  winds, 
rivers,  seas  and  woods  as  persons  endowed 
with  human  personalities.  He  has  largely 
de-personified  them. 

But  even  the  highest  developed  intellect 
still  needs  to  resort  to  tacit,  if  not  avowed 
personification  if  he  would  efifectively  bring 
home  to  his  intelligence  composite  feelings 
and  thoughts.  The  sailor  personifies  his  ship 
and  in  speaking  of  it  uses  the  pronoun  of  the 
feminine  gender.  To  the  stranger  the  vessel 
may  be  represented  to  the  mind  by  the  pro- 
noun it,  but  to  the  master  whom  she  has  car- 
ried safely  through  many  a  storm,  and  to  whose 
will  she  has  responded  as  a  thing  alive,  to 
whom  she  stands  for  pride  and  duty,  and  who 
loves  her  in  very  deed,  the  word  it  applied 
to  his  ship  would  seem  as  inappropriate  as  if 
applied  to  his  wife.  The  clustering  ideas  and 
feelings  absolutely  require  personification  for 
their  adequate  representation  to  his  mind. 
The  square  miles  of  territory,  the  woods,  riv- 
ers and  lakes,  the  cities  and  towns  of  a  nation 
may  be  represented  to  the  mind  of  the  observer 
without  resort  to  personification;   but   when 


252        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

the  idea  of  the  nation  which  calls  forth  sen- 
timents of  love  and  patriotism  is  to  be  pre- 
sented to  the  mind,  we  must  needs  again  re- 
sort to  personification.  The  patriot  regards 
his  country  as  a  person  who  observes,  praises, 
blames,  honors,  condemns,  suffers  and  re- 
joices; and  he  is  compelled  so  to  do  by  the 
constitution  of  his  being. 

The  lower  man's  intelligence  the  more  he 
likens  external  things  to  sides  of  his  own 
personality.  When  he  does  not  move  when 
influenced  so  to  do,  he  refuses  to  move  or  is 
unwilling  to  move,  and  therefore  the  inani- 
mate object  which  under  pressure  does  not 
move  he  can  best  understand  as  refusing  or 
being  unwilling  to  move.  He  has  a  clear  con- 
ception of  the  state  of  affairs  by  likening  the 
immovable  thing  to  his  knowledge  of  him- 
self under  similar  circumstances.  Even  the 
most  educated  man  has  a  more  vivid  impres- 
sion of  the  violence  of  the  waves  when  he  puts 
the  color  of  his  own  personality  into  the  pic- 
ture and  thinks  of  them  as  angry.  The  sea 
which  in  spite  of  all  endeavor  engulfs  the  ship 
is  better  represented  to  poet  and  peasant  when 
it  is  conceived  of  as  a  creature,  pitiless,  re- 
morseless, insatiable,  although  these  are 
strictly  personal  attributes.  What  is  needed 
by  the  mind  is  the  exact  representation  of  the 


MYSTERY  OF  REVELATION    253 

reality,  and  this  representation,  contradictory 
as  it  may  seem,  is  often  to  be  obtained  only 
by  resort  to  ideality.  So  we  find  that  per- 
sonification is  not  only  the  first  instrument 
used  in  the  gathering  of  knowledge,  but  it  is 
to  the  end  an  essential  instrument. 

If  it  be  objected  that  personification  is  a 
source  of  error,  it  may  be  replied  that  instru- 
mentalities are  good  when  they  answer  the 
purpose  for  which  they  are  designed;  knowl- 
edge is  accurate  when  it  suffices  for  the  pro- 
per guidance  of  the  one  possessing  it.  The 
railway  guide-map  is  accurate  if  it  shows  the 
termini  and  the  general  course  of  the  road 
represented,  although  it  may  not  be  correct 
in  a  single  detail  as  compared  with  the  engi- 
neering map  used  in  operating  the  road.  The 
railroad  time-table  map  is  meant  to  convey 
certain  information  to  the  traveling  public, 
for  this  purpose  it  is  accurate,  correct  and 
true.  The  carpenter's  rule  can  be  said  to  be 
correct  and  true  though  not  a  single  division 
upon  it  corresponds  with  the  standards,  if  it 
suffices  for  building  purposes.  And  so  a 
statement  of  fact  or  a  theory  may  be  both 
true  and  false  according  as  viewed  from  one 
standpoint  or  another.  Truth  of  statement 
does  not  always  consist  in  exact  correspon- 
dence   with    fact.        Indeed,    a    most    adroit 


254        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

lie  may  be  in  exact  accordance  with  fact. 
A  man  who  is  asked  if  he  was  at  the  corner 
of  A  and  X  streets  at  six  o'clock  on  a  certain 
day  may  reply  "  No  "  if  he  were  a  yard  away 
at  six  o'clock  or  was  passing  the  corner  a 
second  before  or  after,  and  yet  for  the  pur- 
poses of  the  inquiry  not  be  stating  the  truth. 
On  the  contrary,  for  the  purposes  of  the  in- 
quiry the  true  answer  would  be  "  Yes,"  al- 
though not  in  correspondence  with  the  exact 
facts  of  the  case.  Truth  of  impression  and 
truth  of  statement  do  not  always  correspond. 
For  the  purposes  of  daily  life  it  is  true  to  say 
that  the  sun  set  at  such  a  time,  although  as- 
tronomically considered  the  statement  is  ab- 
solutely untrue.  Every  school  text-book  is 
full  of  misstatements  concerning  the  exact 
truth,  measured  by  scientific  rules  of  exact- 
ness, yet  true  knowledge  is  conveyed  by  them. 
Every  lecturer  on  science  to  popular  audiences 
continually  finds  himself  under  the  necessity 
of  sacrificing  scientific  exactness  to  popular 
comprehension.  All  that  can  be  required  is 
that  his  statements  shall  be  in  the  line  of  com- 
plete truth.  Man  must  learn  the  truth  by  de- 
grees; the  partial  statements  made  to  the  be- 
ginner must  be  abandoned  by  the  scholar,  not 
that  they  are  untrue  but  because  they  are 
incomplete.       Incompleteness    becomes    un- 


MYSTERY  OF  REVELATION    255 

truth  only  when  out  of  harmony  with  its  sur- 
roundings. It  is  not  improper  to  acquiesce 
in  a  personification  of  the  impersonal  while 
this  leads  to  the  comprehension  of  the  natural 
things,  although  of  course  the  teacher  is  aware 
of  its  falsity  in  fact.  As  man  gains  knowl- 
edge of  nature  so  he  gains  knowledge  of  God 
—not  all  at  once,  but  by  steps :  the  knowledge 
in  the  beginning  is  as  incomplete  as  his  in- 
tellectual capacity  is  limited.  Accuracy  of 
comprehension  and  not  exactness  of  detail  is 
what  should  be  looked  for,  and  upon  investi- 
gation what  is  found. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  anthropomor- 
phological  character  of  Christianity  in  con- 
nection with  the  principle  of  relativity  of 
knowledge  and  man's  necessary  habit  of  per- 
sonification. Our  knowledge  of  God  must 
be  like  our  knowledge  of  all  else,  relative 
merely;  that  Is,  we  can  know  absolutely  noth- 
ing of  the  nature  of  God  except  as  transmitted 
through  and  modified  by  the  medium  of  our 
own  personality.  But  we  certainly  can  have 
knowledge  of  God  just  as  we  have  knowledge 
of  the  forces  of  nature,  by  knowing  his  mani- 
festations. If  we  cannot  know  the  real  nature 
of  God,  neither  can  we  know  the  real  nature 
of  the  physical  universe;  if  we  can  only  know 
the  phenomena  of  nature,  we  certainly  may 


256       THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

know  the  phenomena  or  manifestations  which 
God  makes  to  man.  If  it  be  of  no  practical 
consequence  that  we  cannot  arrive  at  any 
knowledge  whatever  of  the  ultimate  essence 
of  things  physical,  it  is  of  no  more  conse- 
quence that  we  are  barred  from  knowing  the 
real  nature  of  God's  being.  If  it  suffices  us 
to  know  phenomena,  and  know  nothing  of 
the  great  reality  behind  the  phenomena,  ex- 
cept that  it  exists  and  manifests  itself  by  the 
phenomena,  it  should  suffice  us  to  know  God 
as  he  has  manifested  himself  to  us,  albeit  he 
be,  as  he  himself  has  declared,  past  finding 
out.  All  that  we  need  know  concerning  God 
is  his  relationship  to  us,  that  is  to  say,  the 
manner  in  which  he  manifests  himself  to  us. 
If  we  cannot  conceive  of  God  as  an  absolute 
being  what  matters  it?  Neither  can  we  con- 
ceive of  the  absolute  power  behind  phenome- 
na. If  it  be  philosophical  and  sensible  to 
give  over  the  attempt  to  discover  the  reality 
behind  phenomena,  and  concern  ourselves 
only  with  the  phenomena  themselves,  so  it  is 
philosophical,  sensible,  and  also  scriptural,  to 
leave  the  absolute  nature  of  God  where  he 
has  left  it,  in  impenetrable  and  unfathomable 
mystery,  and  concern  ourselves  only  with  the 
phenomena,  appearances  or  revelations  of 
God. 


MYSTERY  OF  REVELATION    257 

While  noting  that  knowledge  is  limited 
to  phenomena,  we  note  also  that  it  is  a  growth. 
It  is  always  continuous.  What  we  learn  to- 
day must  of  necessity  he  built  upon  the  ex- 
periences of  yesterday  and  the  days  before. 
Experiences  may  only  be  understood  or  com- 
prehended by  us  when  we  are  able  to  com- 
pare and  classify  them  with  previous  experi- 
ences. This  comparison  involves  measurable 
likeness  or  similarity;  therefore  it  is  that  we 
must  always  begin  with  the  rudiments  of  any 
branch  of  knowledge  or  science,  because  the 
rudiments  or  roots  of  all  kinds  of  knowledge 
are  similar.  We  can  always  grasp  or  compre- 
hend the  rudiments  of  a  new  department  of 
knowledge  because  these  rudiments  are  so  Hke 
our  previous  knowledge  as  to  admit  of  com- 
parison. The  rudiments  of  the  new  knowl- 
edge having  been  added  to  our  experience, 
facts  and  principles,  similar  to  but  dififering 
from  those  preceding  them  in  our  experience, 
are  continuously  added,  until  at  length  we 
grasp  and  make  our  own,  by  means  of  this 
continuous  line  of  comparison  and  classifica- 
tion, things  so  different  from  our  original 
experience  that  they  would  originally  have 
been  impossible  of  comparison  and  therefore 
of  comprehension. 

So  must  knowledge  of  God,  though  it  be 


258        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

gained  by  a  revelation,  be  a  growth;  and  in 
the  beginning  it  must  be  of  a  nature  admitting 
of  comparison  with  the  existing  knowledge 
or  experience  of  the  individual  to  whom  it  is 
made.  But  because  it  is  incomplete  it  need 
never  be  untrue.  The  conception  of  God,  by 
the  ripest  theological  scholar,  is  not,  upon 
introspection,  found  by  him  to  antagonize  or 
be  inconsistent  with  the  ideas  of  the  time 
when  first  he  learned  the  simple  ''  Now  I  lay 
me  down  to  sleep  "  of  the  child's  prayer.  Of 
course  his  conceptions  are  vastly  extended, 
but  without  the  rudimentary  knowledge  fitted 
to  the  experience  of  his  childish  years  his 
present  theological  conceptions  would  be  an 
impossibility.  The  rudiments,  whether  they 
be  of  geology  or  theology,  must  ever  precede 
''  advanced  ideas."  In  every  case  the  knowl- 
edge of  God  must  be  adjusted  to  the  experi- 
ence, the  knowledge  of  the  individual  posses- 
sing it.  The  personification  of  God  is  on 
this  account  an  inherent  necessity  of  revela- 
tion; and  furthermore,  the  personification 
must  be  the  more  approximated  to  the  human 
personality,  the  younger  and  more  inexperi- 
enced the  individual  or  the  race  to  whom  it 
is  to  be  made.  As  man  could  in  the  begin- 
ning only  obtain  knowledge  of  nature  by  en- 
dowing its  works  and  forces  with  almost  per- 


MYSTERY  OF  REVELATION    259 

feet  human  personality,  so  has  human  nature 
required  a  similar  personification  of  God. 
Starting  with  what  to  riper  experience  seems 
a  gross  personification,  man  as  a  race  and  as 
an  individual  comes  to  differentiate  nature 
more  and  more  from  himself.  The  personal 
element  grows  less  and  less  as  experience  is 
added  unto  experience.  As  the  revelation  of 
nature  to  man  has  developed,  so  has  the  re- 
velation of  God.  In  the  beginning  the  knowl- 
edge of  God  must  be  very  near  akin  to  man's 
own  personality;  as  experience  increases,  as 
the  horizon  expands,  as  the  grasp  of  the 
things  of  the  universe  becomes  stronger,  as 
the  relationship  in  his  environment  becomes 
more  clearly  comprehended,  man  differenti- 
ates God  more  and  more  from  man.  But 
these  later,  and  as  they  seem  to  us  more  com- 
plete ideas  of  God,  can  only  come  to  each 
individual  and  to  each  race  through  the  same 
process  of  personification;  the  rudimentary 
knowledge  must  ever  be  the  same. 

Nor  must  we  fail  to  note  that  both  the  re- 
velation of  nature  and  the  revelation  of  God 
to  man  have  always  been  sufficient  to  enable 
him  to  properly  adjust  himself  to  his  environ- 
ment; have  always  been  graduated  so  as  to 
harmonize  with  the  various  stages  of  his  gen- 
eral development,  have  always  accorded  with 


26o        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

the  capacities  of  its  recipient.  The  revela- 
tion has  thus  been,  in  a  way,  always  com- 
plete; and  the  impression  produced  has,  in  its 
broad  outlines,  been  ever  the  same.  The  pos- 
session of  five  hundred  dollars  or  five  milHon 
dollars  are  in  themselves  exceedingly  differ- 
ent, yet  the  impression  of  wealth  produced  by 
this  possession  may  be  in  different  persons 
exactly  the  same,  and  if  the  object  of  the  be- 
stowal of  money  be  to  produce  a  conception 
of  wealth,  the  one  sum  may  be  as  adequate  as 
the  other  under  the  varying  conditions  of  des- 
titution and  opulence;  so  the  object  of  revela- 
tion being  a  knowledge  of  the  relationship  of 
God  to  man,  the  revelation  to  Abraham  may 
have  been  as  efficacious  as  the  revelation  to 
Peter,  yet  the  revelation  in  the  one  case  must 
have  been  very  different  from  that  in  the 
other.  But  that  which  produced  such  vivid 
and  effectual  impressions  upon  the  minds  of 
the  apostles  would  have  been  incomprehensi- 
ble, doubtless,  to  the  more  limited  experience 
of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob.  The  knowl- 
edge of  God  communicated  to  the  race  by 
Christ  could  not,  upon  the  principles  previ- 
ously noted,  have  been  comprehended  in  ad- 
vance of  the  rudiments  previously  communi- 
cated to  the  race.  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
and  the  theological  ideas  of  John  and  Paul 


MYSTERY  OF  REVELATION    261 

could  no  more  have  been  grasped  by  the  race 
in  advance  of  the  experiences  of  the  Jewish 
people,  than  the  evolutionary  philosophy  of 
the  present  day  could  have  been  understood 
by  Newton  or  Bacon  in  advance  of  the  chemi- 
cal, physical  and  biological  experience  of  later 
years.  But,  as  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether 
the  glory  and  power  of  nature  affect  the 
mind  of  the  latter-day  philosopher  any  more 
profoundly  than  they  impressed  the  minds  of 
Newton,  Herschel  or  Young;  or,  compara- 
tively speaking,  it  may  be  doubtful  whether 
the  fuller  revelation  to  the  apostles  revealed 
any  more  fully  the  power  and  glory  of  God 
to  them  than  they  were  revealed  to  Moses 
and  David.  But  the  impressions  produced 
upon  the  philosopher  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury cannot  be  produced  upon  the  philoso- 
pher of  the  nineteenth  century  by  means  of 
the  same  knowledge,  because  the  proportions 
are  destroyed  by  the  vast  advancement  in 
learning  in  these  latter  days.  The  sensations 
produced  upon  the  childish  mind  by  the  dona- 
tion of  a  penny  can  only  be  produced  later  on 
by  the  donation  of  a  pound,  and  later  on  by 
perhaps  a  thousand  of  them.  So  the  appre- 
ciation of  God's  relationship  to  man  could 
only  be  brought  home  to  the  human  race  in 
the  Christian  era  by  a  revelation  adjusted  to 
the  advancement  of  the  race. 


262        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

Since  in  all  cases,  then,  the  object  of  revela- 
tion is  to  reveal,  and  the  revealing  must  always 
of  necessity  be  adjusted  to  the  individual  to 
whom  the  revelation  is  to  be  made,  it  must 
be  to  the  undeveloped  and  the  immature  in- 
tensely anthropomorphological.  It  must  be 
formulated  in  terms  admitting  of  comparison 
with  the  then  accumulated  experiences  of  the 
individual  or  the  race.  If  in  the  days  of  the 
Israelites  God  "  came  down,"  "  visited,"  "  de- 
termined," "  repented,"  was  ''  angry "  and 
"pleased";  if  he  "dwelt  among  them"  and 
"  departed  from  them,"  and  in  general  mani- 
fested himself  to  them  as  possessed  of  intensely 
human  characteristics,  what  of  it?  This  is 
just  what  in  the  nature  of  things  we  should 
expect;  in  no  other  terms  could  God  have 
manifested  his  relationship  to  them;  in  such 
terms  of  humanity  alone  could  he  reveal  him- 
self. We,  with  advancing  experience,  have 
indeed  outgrown  some  of  these  ultra-anthro- 
pomorphological  conceptions,  but  after  all  we 
are  still  dependent  upon  anthropomorpho- 
logical methods  of  thought.  Although  the 
Christian  conception  of  God's  relationship  is 
immeasurably  less  humanized  than  that  of  the 
Israelites  of  old,  still  we  shall  doubtless  never 
outgrow  our  dependence  upon  the  idea  of 
fatherhood  and  brotherhood,  in  conceiving  of 


MYSTERY  OF  REVELATION    263 

the  relationship  of  God  and  Christ  towards 
man.  We*  have  spirituaHzed  to  an  almost 
inconceivable  degree  our  ideas  of  God,  but 
as  long  as  we  remain  human  we  must  ever 
formulate  our  ideas  of  God  as  of  all  things 
else,  in  terms  of  humanity;  and  this  must  be 
so  even  though  in  larger  measure,  we  being 
spirits,  spiritually  discern  God,  the  Father  of 
our  spirits.  Even  though  spiritual  faculties 
discern  spiritual  qualities,  nevertheless  in  the 
expression  of  spiritual  knowledge  even  to  our- 
selves we  must  depend  upon  human  means, 
just  as  the  mind,  whose  existence  of  a  surety 
cannot  be  denied,  is  forced  to  depend  for  ex- 
pression upon  physiological  means.  What 
mind  is,  is  as  inscrutable  a  mystery  as  the 
Great  Unknown  behind  the  phenomena  of 
nature;  but  for  conception  and  expression  it 
is  confined  to  the  instrumentality  of  physio- 
logical combinations.  It  is  therefore  entirely 
in  accordance  with  our  experience  if  the  spirit 
be  under  the  necessity  of  reliance  upon  things 
human  to  conceive  of  and  express  things  spir- 
itual. 

The  mystery  of  religion,  like  the  mystery 
of  nature,  is  so  profound,  so  impossible  of 
comprehension,  that  Christ  used  no  mere 
figure  of  speech  when  he  said,  "  Whosoever 
shall  not  receive  the  kingdom  of  God  as  a 


264        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

little  child,  he  shall  in  nowise  enter  therein." 
Those  who  will  not  approach  the  mystery  of 
nature  and  the  mystery  of  godliness  in  the 
spirit  of  children  will  never  enter.  They  may 
gain  certain  distorted  visions  of  these  king- 
doms, but,  lacking  genuine  humility,  they  are 
without  the  key  which  opens  the  gate.  The 
characteristics  which  must  belong  to  the 
searcher  after  truth,  be  it  natural  or  religious, 
are  beautifully  set  forth  by  that  prince  of 
natural  philosophers,  Michael  Faraday.  He 
says:  "The  philosopher  should  be  a  man  wil- 
ling to  listen  to  every  suggestion,  but  determ- 
ined to  judge  for  himself.  He  should  not  be 
biased  by  appearances,  have  no  favorite  hy- 
pothesis, be  of  no  school,  and  in  doctrine  have 
no  master.  He  should  not  be  a  respecter  of 
persons,  but  of  things.  Truth  should  be  his 
primary  object.  If  to  these  qualities  be 
added  industry,  he  may  indeed  hope  to  walk 
within  the  veil  of  the  temple  of  nature.  We 
may  be  sure  of  facts,  but  our  interpretation 
of  facts  we  should  doubt.  He  is  the  wisest 
philosopher  who  holds  his  theory  with  some 
doubt.  Nothing  is  more  difficult  and  requires 
more  care  than  philosophical  deduction,  nor 
is  there  anything  more  adverse  to  its  accuracy 
than  fixity  of  opinion.  The  man  who  is  cer- 
tain he  is  right  is  almost  sure  to  be  wrong, 


MYSTERY  OF  REVELATION    265 

and  he  has  the  additional  misfortune  of  inev- 
itably remaining  so."  It  was  the  opinion  of 
Faraday  that  man  must  enter  the  kingdom 
of  nature  even  as  he  must  enter  the  kingdom 
of  heaven — as  a  child.  The  child  adds  to  his 
knowledge  day  by  day,  undeterred,  undis- 
mayed by  the  infinite  unknowable.  He  is 
uninfluenced  by,  nay  almost  regardless  of 
what  lies  beyond  the  range  of  his  experience. 
The  value  of  his  finite  knowledge  is  not  di- 
minished by  the  infinity  of  his  ignorance. 
But  if  the  unknown  dampens  not  the  ardor  of 
his  search  after  new  knowledge,  neither  in 
him  does  knowledge  become  a  preventive  of 
further  knowledge;  neither  his  ignorance  nor 
his  knowledge  checks  his  restless  inquiry  into 
the  nature  of  things ;  to  him  nothing  is  strange 
and  to  him  all  things  are  wonderful.  Uncon- 
sciously the  child  never  pits  his  limited  expe- 
rience against  the  infinite  possibilities  of 
things;  to  him,  whatever  is  can  be.  In  maturer 
years  the  temptation  is  almost  irresistible 
to  reverse  this;  so  that  he  comes  to  act  upon 
the  principle  that  only  what  in  the  light  of 
his  experience  can  be,  is.  According  to  Far- 
aday, this  last  condition  of  mind  is  fatal  to 
advance  in  the  acquisition  of  scientific  knowl- 
edge; the  Scriptures  tell  us  it  is  equally  fatal 
to  the  acquisition   of  religious   truth.     Only 


266        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

those  who  grasp  the  principle  involved  in  the 
saying,  "  With  man  it  is  impossible,  but  not 
with  God:  for  all  things  are  possible  with 
God,"  can  hope  to  walk  within  the  veil  of  the 
temple  of  nature,  or  to  enter  the  kingdom  of 
God.  One  who  approaches  any  avenue  of 
knowledge  with  preconceived  ideas  of  pos- 
sibility and  impossibility,  founded  upon  that 
philosophical  deduction  declared  to  be  diffi- 
cult by  such  a  past  master  in  the  art  as  Fara- 
day, carries  with  him  an  effectual  bar  to  even 
entering  therein. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE   REASONABLENESS   OF  THE   REVELATION 
OF    LIFE 

What  God  might  have  dene  it  is  impossible 
to  say,  but  what  God  has  done  is  to  estabHsh 
man's  reason  as  the  Court  of  Appeals  in  all 
matters  pertaining  to  man.  Among  these 
matters  pertaining  to  man,  certainly  the  most 
important  are  things  religious — the  relation- 
ship of  God  to  man. 

It  is  contended  by  many  good  and  wise 
men,  that  since  the  nature  of  God  is  beyond 
man's  comprehension,  since  God  is  infinite 
and  man  finite,  religion  cannot  be  left  to 
the  acceptance  or  rejection  of  man's  reason. 
While  admitting  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court 
of  reason  in  all  else,  they  deny  its  jurisdiction 
in  all  such  matters  as  the  revelation  of  the 
Scriptures  and  of  so-called  religious  doc- 
trines. But  as  we  have  seen,  the  argument  of 
such  is  just  as  applicable  to  the  things  of  na- 
ture as  the  things  of  religion.  The  physical 
universe  and  the  forces  controlling  it  are 
infinite,   and   utterly   beyond   comprehension 


268        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

by  the  mind  of  man.  If  the  things  of  reHgion 
are  not  to  be  submitted  to  man's  reason  be- 
cause of  the  infinity  of  the  God  of  reHgion, 
then  neither  can  the  things  of  nature  be  sub- 
mitted to  man's  reason  because  of  the  infin- 
ity of  the  powers  of  nature. 

Without  wandering  into  the  realms  of  ab- 
stract philosophy,  we  may  find,  in  the  region 
of  practical  experience,  the  refutation  of  the 
idea  that  man's  reason  is  not  a  court  of  gen- 
eral jurisdiction  over  things  religious  as  well 
as  things  natural.  When  the  missionary  goes 
to  the  peoples  who  know  not  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham, Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  who  have  no 
knowledge  of  Christ  or  his  apostles,  to  what 
does  he  appeal?  To  the  ordinary  reasoning 
powers  of  his  hearers.  This  appeal  must  of 
necessity  be  his  very  first  step.  Does  he 
ground  his  teaching  upon  the  Scriptures,  he 
must  needs  then  first  give  some  account  of 
their  production  and  transmission.  Does  he 
rely  upon  the  mere  propounding  of  the  truth 
itself,  and  rely  upon  its  acceptance  because 
it  is  true,  without  regard  to  the  authority  of 
its  original  promulgation,  then  he  must  show 
how  it  harmonizes  with  other  knowledge  of 
truth  already  possessed,  how  it  satisfies  natural 
longings,  how  it  is  adjusted  to  the  consti- 
tution of  human   nature.     In  every   case   he 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    269 

must  follow  the  example  set  by  God  himself, 
through  his  prophet  Isaiah,  when  he  said, 
"  Come  let  us  reason  together."  In  every 
case  he  must  teach  and  preach,  persuade  and 
convince;  and  all  these  things  of  necessity 
involve  argument,  reasoning  on  the  part  of 
the  one  propounding  the  truth,  and  involve 
the  exercise  of  the  faculty  of  reason  by  the 
one  accepting  or  mayhap  rejecting  the  truth 
propounded.  The  same  appeal  to  reason 
must  be  made  in  the  inculcation  of  religious 
truth  in  children.  Until  the  child  has  arrived 
at  such  a  stage  of  experience  as  to  admit  of 
reasoning,  the  presentation  of  religious  ideas 
is  not  possible.  It  receives  knowledge  of  God 
as  it  receives  knowledge  of  nature,  by  the 
process  of  comparison  and  classification. 
Knowledge  of  God  can  no  more  be  acquired 
without  the  aid  of  these  processes  than  the 
knowledge  of  natural  phenomena.  The 
thousand  and  one  inquiries  propounded  by 
the  child  relative  to  the  nature  of  God  and 
his  dealings  with  man,  show  conclusively  the 
train  of  reasoning  concerning  these  things 
carried  on  by  it. 

The  process  employed  in  teaching  and 
learning  religious  things  is  indistinguishable 
from  the  process  employed  in  learning  natural 
things.     The  sole  method  of  separating  truth 


270        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

from  error  is  by  the  process  of  reasoning. 
The  acceptance  or  rejection  of  anything  as 
true  or  false  depends  upon  the  exercise  of 
judgment,  which  is  the  result  or  final  state  of 
a  process  of  reasoning.  The  whole  Bible 
from  Genesis  to  Revelation  is  but  one  grand 
appeal  to  man's  judgment  or  reason,  and  it 
is  hard  to  imagine  whence  the  modern  heresy 
that  God  ordinarily  appeals  to  man  other- 
wise than  through  his  reasoning  powers  has 
arisen. 

That  spiritual  man,  having  been  born  again 
into  a  new  kingdom,  and  having  thus  become 
endowed  with  ultra-human  faculties,  is  ena- 
bled to  know  something  of  God,  unattainable 
by  unassisted  reason,  is  not  disputed  but  af- 
firmed. But  the  necessary  preparation  for  the 
new  birth  depends,  as  has  been  seen,  upon 
man.  The  influences  within  and  without, 
which  effect  this  preparation  can  only  be 
brought  to  bear  by  constant  appeals  to  the 
reasoning  faculties  of  man.  But  not  even 
after  the  birth  of  the  new  creature  can  this 
new  creature  become  independent  of  the  hu- 
man faculty  of  reason,  any  more  than  the 
intangible  mind  can  become  independent  of 
physiological  unit  and  chemical  combinations. 
The  human  is  as  intimately  identified  with  the 
spiritual,  and  as  necessary  for  the  exercise  of 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    271 

its  functions,  as  the  material  is  intimately  con- 
nected with  and  necessary  for  the  exercise  of 
the  functions  of  the  mental.  In  a  word,  it  is 
impossible  to  conceive  how  religious  truth 
can  be  brought  home  to  the  human  being  ex- 
cept through  the  exercise  of  reason.  The 
truth  is  never  dangerous  except  to  those  who 
oppose  it;  and  it  will  be  found  that  no  damage 
accrues  to  religion  in  meeting  its  critics  on 
their  own  ground  and  admitting  the  fact  that  it 
must  plead  in  the  court  of  reason  and  submit 
to  its  judgment. 

Is,  then,  Christianity  with  its  revelation  of 
the  new  spirit  life  reasonable  or  unreasonable? 
Upon  analysis  it  is  found  that,  both  in  the  lan- 
guage of  science  and  the  language  of  every- 
day life,  that  is  reasonable  which  accords  with 
experience.  As  we  have  seen,  the  acquisi- 
tion of  knowledge  is  a  growth;  therefore  each 
additional  element  is  intimately  associated 
with  what  has  immediately  preceded  it.  Each 
new  element  of  knowledge  will  be  different 
from,  but  must  be  also  very  similar  to,  some 
element  before  acquired;  it  must  be  suffici- 
ently harmonious  with  something  that  has 
preceded  it  in  experience  to  render  it  capable 
of  being  joined  to  it:  in  other  words,  it  raust 
harmonize  with  experience.  If  new  mate- 
rial for  the  increase   of  knowledge  be  pre- 


272        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

sented  to  the  mind  which  is  very  dissimilar 
to  knowledge  already  acquired,  it  cannot  be 
assimilated  and  does  not  become  understood 
or  known.  When  some  principle  of  trigo- 
nometry or  calculus  is  presented  to  the  mind 
ignorant  of  the  elements  of  mathematics,  the 
principle  is  incapable  of  assimilation;  it  is  too 
dissimilar  to  the  elements  of  knowledge  al- 
ready acquired  to  admit  of  comparison  and 
classification  and  being  joined  to  the  body  of 
knowledge.  This  of  course  follows  from  the 
fact  that  knowledge  only  grows  by  a  classi- 
fication of  the  likenesses  or  unHkenesses  of 
the  new  to  the  old — in  other  words,  by  reason- 
ing. Hence  when  the  newly  presented  mat- 
ter is  so  dissimilar  to  previous  experience  as 
to  be  incapable  of  comparison  with  it,  it  is 
said  to  be  unreasonable,  that  is  to  say  it  is 
incapable  of  being  joined  to  the  existing  fab- 
ric of  knowledge  by  the  necessary  process 
of  reasoning. 

Having  thus  noted  that  those  things  are 
reasonable  which  correspond  with  experience, 
and  that  the  unreasonable  is  that  which  is  con- 
trary to  experience,  let  us  inquire  into  the 
nature  of  the  experience  required  as  a  stand- 
ard. The  experience  frequently  and  errone- 
ously relied  upon  as  a  test  of  reasonableness 
is   one's   own   individual   experience,   yet  the 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    273 

constant  teaching  of  personal  experience  is 
its  unreliability  as  a  sole  test  for  what  is  rea- 
sonable or  unreasonable.  The  admonitions  of 
older  people  relative  to  the  dangers  of  unripe 
fruit  do  not  at  first  seem  reasonable  to  the  in- 
fant. It  is  not  in  accordance  with  the  exper- 
ience of  infancy  that  harm  can  follow  the  eat- 
ing of  anything  that  is  pleasant  to  the  taste; 
only  after  sad  experiences  of  suffering  does  the 
connection  between  colic  and  unripe  fruit  ac- 
cord with  personal  experience  and  seem  rea- 
sonable. The  warnings  of  Washington  to  Gen- 
eral Braddock  and  his  officers  were  to  them 
unreasonable  in  the  highest  degree.  These 
men  had  plenty  of  experience  in  war,  and  the 
statements  of  the  young  colonist  were  rejected 
because  they  did  not  accord  with  this  experi- 
ence, and  were  thus  seemingly  unreasonable. 
To  the  survivors  of  the  ill-fated  expedition, 
the  statements  of  Washington  relative  to  In- 
dian warfare  accorded  with  their  experience 
and  were  reasonable  to  a  degree.  Only  after 
many  bitter  lessons  does  the  ordinary  mortal 
learn  that  although  that  which  is  reasonable 
must  accord  with  experience,  he  must  look 
beyond  himself  for  the  experience  with  which 
the  accord  is  necessary.  The  reasonable  man, 
that  is  to  say  the  man  who  acts  in  accordance 
with    experience,    depends    in    the    ordinary 


274        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

affairs  of  life  far  more  upon  the  recognized  ex- 
perience of  others  than  upon  his  own.  In  the 
preparation  of  his  food,  in  the  manufacture 
of  his  clothing,  in  the  conduct  of  his  business, 
in  his  recourse  to  physician  and  lawyer,  he 
finds  many  unreasonable  things,  if  judged 
only  by  his  personal  experience.  Therefore 
the  conception  of  the  reasonable  as  that  which 
conforms  to  experience  must  be  broadened 
so  as  to  include  what  we  believe  to  be  the 
experience  of  others  as  well  as  ourselves.  But 
even  this  broadening  of  the  range  of  experi- 
ence will  not  suffice;  we  act  upon  many  an 
occasion  in  a  manner  which  the  results  justify 
without  the  assistance  of  any  known  experi- 
ence of  ourselves  or  others.  Powerful  in- 
stincts often  safely  guide  us  into  conformity 
with  novel  surroundings;  we  call  this  instinc- 
tive action  reasonable  because  we  "  feel  "  it  so. 
But  in  these  cases  we  are  served  by  the  inher- 
ited experience  of  countless  ancestors.  Many 
actions  which  would  be  unreasonable  if  they 
needed  to  be  justified  by  known  experience, 
are  reasonable  when  judged  by  the  standard 
of  the  experience  of  the  race.  Thus  the  very 
highest  overshadowing  teaching  of  experience 
is  the  unreasonableness  of  finally  rejecting  any 
matter  brought  before  us  as  unreasonable 
because  it  is  beyond  our  present  personal  ex- 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    275 

perience.  The  very  doctrine  that  the  reason- 
able is  that  which  is  in  harmony  with  ex- 
perience demands  that  we  must  often  accept 
as  reasonable  that  which  is  beyond  our  own 
personal  experience. 

When  about  to  advance  into  the  regions  of 
the  unknown  for  the  acquisition  of  new 
knowledge,  the  investigator  usually  has  re- 
course to  analogy  to  determine  the  direction 
in  which  he  should  proceed.  This  is  simply 
a  determining  what  would  be  reasonable  if 
discovered;  that  is  to  say,  a  determination, 
upon  the  inspection  of  previous  experience, 
of  what  would  harmonize  with  it.  It  is  a  well- 
known  maxim  that  no  analogy  goes  on  all 
fours.  This  briefly  puts  the  principle  here- 
tofore dwelt  upon,  that  in  the  reasonable  we 
do  not  look  for  unison,  but  harmony.  We 
look  for  that  which  may  be  fitted  into  our  ex- 
perience on  one  or  more  sides,  always  leaving 
one  or  more  sides  differing  entirely  from  any- 
thing heretofore  built  into  the  fabric  of  knowl- 
edge. Every  investigator  is  aware  of  the  fact 
that  many  of  the  best  additions  to  knowledge 
have  come  from  pursuing  faint  analogies. 
That  is  to  say,  the  new  element  has  gone 
almost  to  the  verge  of  contradiction  of  pre- 
vious experience.  As  we  have  seen,  some 
similarity,    however    slight,    must    invariably 


276        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

exist  between  the  new  and  the  old;  but,  like 
the  grain  of  mustard  seed  in  the  parable,  it 
need  be  but  very  small.  We  have  learned  by 
experience  that  among  the  possibilities  of  the 
unknown  that  is  the  more  likely  to  be  true 
which  fits  our  experience  on  most  sides,  and 
we  call  such  a  thing  probable;  but  it  not  in- 
frequently happens  that  the  improbable,  the 
things  which  touch  and  fit  experience  at  few 
points  are  true.  Widening  experience,  how- 
ever, shows  that  the  improbable  which  turned 
out  to  be  true  fits  accurately  newly  added  ele- 
ments of  knowledge,  whereas  that  which  be- 
fore seemed  probable  would  have  been  inca- 
pable of  adjustment  to  new  elements  as  the 
building  of  knowledge  went  on.  Thus  even 
apparent  failures  of  experience  as  the  test  of 
the  reasonable  and  the  true,  in  the  end  estab- 
lished but  the  more  strongly  its  sole  avail- 
ability. The  failures  always  arise,  not  from 
defect  in  the  standard,  but  in  our  present  lack 
of  knowledge  of  it.  Limited  experience  is 
the  necessary  and  sufficient  guide  to  further 
experience;  and  as  experience  is  added  to  ex- 
perience and  knowledge  expands  we  find 
order  evolving  out  of  chaos,  certainty  emerg- 
ing from  doubt,  and  the  truth  standing  out  at 
last  clear  and  distinct. 

The  stones  of  the  edifice  of  truth  are  ready 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    277 

cut  to  our  hand,  but  all  unmarked;  what  has 
been  done  in  the  past  is  the  only  guide  to  the 
work  of  the  future,  and  the  building  is  there- 
fore slow.  Many  a  stone  is  used  in  the  wrong 
place  because  of  seeming  fitness,  only  after- 
wards to  be  extricated  from  its  place  at  the 
expense  of  tearing  down  much  that  is  asso- 
ciated with  it.  The  proper  stone  in  the  pro- 
per place  will  fit  or  harmonize  not  only  with 
those  before  built  into  the  walls,  but  with  all 
those  which  must  thereafter  be  built  about  it. 
The  reasonable  must  not  only  fit  experience 
past  but  experience  future.  The  truth  will 
not  only  harmonize  with  what  has  been  but 
what  shall  be.  But  as  the  building  of  knowl- 
edge progresses,  the  only  possible  method  of 
procedure  is  to  daily  add  the  things  which 
may  be  true  in  the  light  of  past  experience, 
trusting  that  the  future  will  decide  that  the 
builder  has  not  determined  amiss.  What  is 
reasonable,  what  is  probable,  is  man's  only 
guide  to  truth,  whether  it  be  in  choosing  a 
road,  erecting  a  building,  constructing  a  sci- 
ence, or  seeking  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

Bearing  in  mind  then  that  those  things  are 
reasonable  which  harmonize  with  experience, 
and  that  those  things  only  are  unreasonable 
which  are  incapable  of  being  fitted  to  expe- 
rience, and  that  the  law  of  growth  shows  that 


278        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

a  new  element  of  knowledge  need  only  accord 
with  previous  knowledge  or  experience  on 
one  side,  let  us  test  the  revelations  of  the 
Scriptures  by  this  standard  of  the  reasonable. 
It  will  be  found  in  all  cases  that  the  teachings 
proceeding  from  the  Creator  are  not  out  of 
harmony  with  the  receptive  faculties  of  the 
creature — that  they  are  addressed  to  his  rea- 
son. 

The  comparison,  here,  of  scriptural  teach- 
ings with  the  fruits  of  experience  must  of  ne- 
cessity be  limited  to  a  few  points.  One  of  the 
most  striking  inferences  from  human  exper- 
ience is  the  vastness  of  the  change  which  must 
of  necessity  take  place  in  the  environment  of 
the  human  being  at  death.  Indeed,  so  incal- 
culably great  is  this  change  supposed  to  be 
that  very  many  cannot  conceive  how  individ- 
uality can  survive  it.  But  if  the  survival  be 
possible,  our  experience  teaches  that  the  be- 
ing surviving  must  be  capable  of  adjusting 
itself  to  the  changes  of  the  environment,  and 
that  the  capacity  for  adjustment  must  be  great 
in  proportion  to  the  greatness  of  the  change. 

Given  the  environment,  the  naturalist  has 
little  difficulty  in  deciding  upon  the  general 
characteristics  of  the  creature  capable  of  life 
within  it.  This  follows  from  the  principle 
that  life  is  the  correspondence  of  an  organism 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    279 

with  its  environment;  and  this  correspondence 
involves  perceptions,  powers  and  instrumen- 
talities in  the  organism  rendering  it  possible. 
The  creature  furnished  with  gills  but  without 
lungs  could  not  correspond  with  the  environ- 
ment of  the  atmosphere.  Neither  could  the 
animal  with  lungs  and  no  gills  or  equivalent 
organs  live  in  the  water;  taken  from  the  air 
and  immersed  in  the  water,  the  change  in  its 
environment  would  be  such  as  to  destroy  life 
because  of  inability  to  adjust  itself  to  its  new 
surroundings.  Changes  like  these  are  so 
great  that  they  demand  a  greater  capacity 
for  adjustment  than  the  organism  possesses, 
correspondence  ceases,  and  death  results. 
Smaller  changes  in  the  environment  involve 
less  capacity  to  change  in  the  organism  liv- 
ing in  it.  But  in  all  cases  a  change  in  the 
environment  involves  an  equivalent  change 
in  the  organism  if  life  is  to  continue.  There- 
fore the  naturalist  deduces  the  general  rule 
that  every  organism  must  be  furnished  with 
organs  and  be  capable  of  performing  func- 
tions to  correspond  with  its  environment; 
that  changed  environment  demands  different 
organs  or  the  exercise  of  different  functions; 
and  that  the  greater  the  difference  in  the  en- 
vironment the  greater  the  difference  in  the 
characteristics  of  the  living  beings  within  it. 


28o        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

If  the  characteristics  of  the  environment  be 
unknown,  the  characteristics  of  the  Hving  be- 
ing inhabiting  it  cannot  be  inferred;  but  if  it 
be  known  that  a  certain  environment  is  very 
different  from  other  known  environments,  it 
may  be  predicted  with  certainty  that  the  be- 
ings Hving  in  that  environment  must  have 
characteristics  widely  different  from  those 
living  in  the  known  environments.  If  it  be 
granted,  then,  that  the  environment  after 
death  is  fundamentally  different  from  any- 
thing with  which  we  are  acquainted,  it  must 
likewise  be  admitted  that  the  beings  capable 
of  life  in  that  environment  must  be  essentially 
different  from  the  ordinary  beings  of  the  hu- 
man race.  This  is  the  teaching  of  science  or 
experience,  and  this  is  the  exact  and  literal 
teaching  of  the  New  Testament  Scriptures, 
which  set  forth  the  absolute  necessity  of  a 
new  creature  to  make  possible  the  inheritance 
or  obtaining  of  eternal  life.  According  to  our 
experience,  new  creatures  must  be  born,  and 
again  this  is  the  exact  declaration  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. The  new  creature,  as  we  have  seen, 
should  be  essentially  and  fundamentally  dif- 
ferent from  the  human  being  of  the  present 
environment,  and  this  again  the  Scriptures 
declare  to  be  the  true  doctrine.  Therefore 
the  scriptural  teaching  that  the  human  being 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    281 

is  destined  to  death,  that  the  only  possibility 
of  the  survival  of  the  individual  is  the  devel- 
opment within  him  of  a  new  creature,  by  a 
new  birth,  possessed  of  new  faculties,  new 
powers,  new  perceptions,  is  harmonious  with 
experience — is  reasonable. 

As  to  the  existence  of  a  new  environment 
differing  from  all  present  known  environ- 
ments, this  is  reasonable,  because  we  know 
from  experience  that  the  known  is  infinitesi- 
mally  small,  and  that  in  the  unknown  there 
are  infinite  possibilities,  so  that  the  fact  of  the 
existence  of  a  condition  of  things  differing 
from  that  with  which  we  are  acquainted  is 
reasonable,  is  probable.  As  regards  the  ex- 
istence of  living  beings  in  this  unknown  uni- 
verse, beyond  our  range  of  ordinary  percep- 
tion, all  that  is  required  to  make  it  reasonable 
is  that  it  shall  not  be  negatived  by  experience. 
Observing  the  different  orders  of  things  in  the 
visible  universe  and  noting  that  they  ascend 
from  mineral  to  plant,  from  plant  to  animal, 
from  animal  to  man;  and  observing  that  the 
existence  of  each  higher  order  depends  in 
nowise  on  the  perception  of  that  order  by 
those  below  it,  or  upon  the  lower  order  pos- 
sessing the  faculties  necessary  for  this  per- 
ception, it  may  be  asserted  without  fear  of 
contradiction  that  the  existence  of  an  order 


282        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

superior  to  man  is  in  entire  harmony  with 
experience  as  far  as  it  has  extended.  The 
positive  declaration  of  the  Scriptures  as 
to  the  existence  of  a  kingdom  of  heaven, 
higher  than  any  of  the  kingdoms  of  earth, 
where  a  new  condition  of  things  prevails,  and 
where  new  and,  to  human  beings,  unknown 
forces  hold  sway,  is  not  incapable  of  being 
fitted  to  our  present  knowledge.  It  is  in  line 
with  the  trend  of  present  experience;  and  the 
further  declaration  that  the  members  of  this 
kingdom  are  living  beings  endowed  with  per- 
sonality and  individuality  is  harmonious  with 
the  teachings  of  science,  with  formulated  ex- 
perience, with  reason. 

The  study  of  the  different  kingdoms  reveals 
a  connection  between  the  lower  and  the 
higher.  Each  higher  order  is  dependent  for 
its  existence  upon  the  lower.  The  members 
of  each  higher  kingdom  are  dependent  for 
their  organs  and  for  the  exercise  of  their  func- 
tions upon  the  materials  furnished  by  the 
lower.  The  plant  life  cannot  exist  separate 
and  apart  from  its  mineral  associate  elements; 
the  germ  of  life  contained  in  the  seed  exists 
only  by  virtue  of  the  mineral  elements  so 
mysteriously  associated  with  it.  When  it  ger- 
minates into  a  plant,  the  plant  grows  only 
by  appropriating  to  itself  the  mineral  elements 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    283 

of  air  and  soil  surrounding  it.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  separate  the  plant  life  from  the  silica 
and  potash,  the  nitrogen  and  the  carbon 
which  make  it  possible.  Ascending  the  scale, 
we  find  animal  life  appropriating  to  itself  the 
prepared  elements  of  vegetable  life,  either  di- 
rectly from  the  plant  kingdom  or  indirectly 
through  some  other  animal  which  has  before 
secured  them  from  that  kingdom.  As  it  is 
ordinarily  expressed,  the  plants  live  upon  the 
minerals,  and  the  animals  live  upon  the  plants. 
The  animal  is  thus  doubly  indebted  to  both 
the  mineral  and  the  plant  kingdom  for  its  ex- 
istence; it  cannot  do  without  the  elements 
furnished  by  the  mineral  kingdom,  nor  yet 
can  it  obtain  these  necessary  elements  directly 
from  that  kingdom.  Regarding  man  as  be- 
longing to  a  yet  higher  kingdom  than  the 
animal,  we  find  still  the  same  law  holding 
good.  Those  faculties  possessed  by  man  and 
those  functions  performed  by  him  which  dis- 
tinguish him  from  the  animal  are  only  pos- 
sible through  the  animal  elements  of  his  com- 
posite being.  He  can  only  reason  by  virtue 
of  the  physiological  part  of  him.  That  mind 
is  a  thing  apart  from  the  anatomical  organs 
and  physiological  functions  through  and  by 
means  of  which  it  manifests  itself  and  exer- 
cises   power,    is    the    opinion    of    the    ripest 


284        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

psychological  scholarship  of  to-day.  But  no 
psychologist  or  theologist  would  think  for 
one  moment  of  denying  the  impossibihty  of 
the  development,  growth  and  exercise  of  men- 
tal powers  apart  from  the  physiological  cell 
or  the  organic  proteids.  The  member  of  the 
human  kingdom  therefore  is  triply  indebted 
to  the  kingdoms  below;  he  is  dependent  upon 
the  mineral  elements  and  upon  the  plant  and 
the  animal.  Nor  can  the  intellect  which  dis- 
tinguishes him  be  produced  or  exercise  itself 
without  the  joint  agency  of  mineral,  plant  and 
animal.  If  then  depending  upon  known  ex- 
perience we  should  inquire  concerning  the 
probable  nature  of  a  being  of  a  higher  order 
than  man,  we  should  expect  to  find  that  being 
dependent  upon  and  intimately  connected 
with  the  kingdoms  below;  we  should  expect 
to  find  a  being  dependent  for  original  cre- 
ation, for  growth  and  for  the  exercise  of  its 
powers  upon  man,  the  next  lower  order  of 
creature,  and  through  man  upon  the  king- 
doms below  him;  we  should  expect  to  find  a 
being  having  an  element  within  him  existing 
as  a  thing  distinct  from  and  yet  dependent 
upon  the  human  element;  and  we  should 
further  expect  to  find  that  this  new  separate 
and  distinct  entity,  this  new  thing  apart,  in- 
fluenced,   nay    sometimes    controlled   by   the 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    285 

lower  elements  with  which  it  is  indissolubly 
united.  As  the  mind  not  only  cannot  exist 
separated  from  its  material  associates,  but  is 
under  the  dominion  to  a  large  degree  of  heat 
and  cold,  and  food  and  drink,  things  of  the 
mineral  and  plant  kingdoms,  and  digestion, 
and  waste  and  decay,  affecting  the  animal 
frame;  so  we  should  expect  the  spiritual  crea- 
ture to  be  not  only  dependent  upon,  but 
largely  controlled  by  the  human  body  and 
mind.  All  these  distinguishing  characteristics 
foreshadowed  by  our  experience  are  found  set 
forth  in  stated  terms  in  the  Scriptures.  What 
our  experience  indicates  the  spiritual  being 
should  be  the  Scriptures  declare  that  he  is; 
and  therefore  the  description  of  the  nature 
of  the  new  creature  of  the  Scriptures  is  rea- 
sonable— it  is  in  harmony  with  our  experience. 
Biology  teaches  not  only  that  life  proceeds 
always  from  life,  that  the  dead  never  brings 
forth  the  living,  but  it  also  teaches  that  the 
new  Hfe  is  like  that  whence  it  proceeds. 
From  human  beings  therefore  we  should  ob- 
tain only  human  beings;  human  life  can  pro- 
pagate only  its  own,  varying,  to  be  sure,  but 
always  human.  We  are,  moreover,  taught 
that  the  living  organism  generated  must  be 
brought  into  existence  with  faculties  enabling 
it  to  correspond  with  its  environment,  other- 


286        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

wise  life  becomes  impossible.  Eggs  hatched 
under  water  would  not  grow  into  birds;  fish 
spawn  without  water  would  not  develop  into 
swimming  fish.  The  organism  must  be  born 
with  a  nature  fitted  to  its  prospective  sur- 
roundings. Only  the  living  creatures  from 
the  given  environment  can  generate  the  or- 
ganisms which  will  develop  the  characteristics 
necessary  for  correspondence  with  that  envi- 
ronment. A  creature  to  live  under  water 
must  be  given  its  life  by  fish;  the  creature  to 
fly  through  the  air  must  owe  its  being  to  the 
bird.  Therefore  experience  would  indicate 
that  a  creature  capable  of  corresponding  with 
the  environment  beyond  the  earthly  kingdoms, 
beyond  the  physical  and  within  the  spiritual, 
must  receive  its  life  from  the  spiritual,  from 
beyond  man  and  his  limited  environment. 
This  teaching  of  experience  is  the  teaching 
of  the  Scriptures,  for  it  is  written  that  unless 
a  man  be  born  from  above,  born  of  the  spirit, 
he  cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

All  higher  forms  of  life,  as  science  declares, 
result  from  the  union  of  two  life-currents. 
The  new  creature  of  the  new  kingdom  should 
therefore  result  from  union  of  two  life  prin- 
ciples. But  though  different  they  should  not, 
according  to  physiological  principles,  be  too 
different,  and  therefore  the  two  kinds  of  life 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    287 

must  be  brought  into  some  degree  of  simi- 
larity, and  these  teachings  of  science  are  found 
to  be  the  doctrine  of  the  Scriptures.  The  Hfe 
of  man  and  the  Hfe  of  the  spirit  flow  together 
in  the  production  of  the  new  spiritual  creature, 
but  the  human  life  must  be  elevated  to  the 
point  of  possible  union  of  the  two. 

So  it  seems  beyond  dispute  that  the  exist- 
ence of  the  spiritual  kingdom,  its  great  dif- 
ference from  the  lower  kingdoms,  the  neces- 
sity of  the  birth  of  a  new  creature  capable  of 
a  new  life  within  it,  the  new  creature's  de- 
pendence upon  and  intimate  union  with  the 
human  being,  that  the  life  of  this  new  creature 
should  come  from  beyond  the  human  king- 
dom, that  this  new  creature  should  result 
from  the  union  of  two  kinds  of  life  and  should 
unite  the  characteristics  of  both,  all  of  which 
are  the  teachings  of  the  Scriptures,  are  in 
harmony  with  the  experience  of  the  human 
race  and  therefore  reasonable. 

These  teachings  likewise  find  support  from 
the  law  of  continuity.  A  fundamental  teach- 
ing of  science  is  that  nature  never  leaps.  Her 
progress  is  marked  by  a  line  without  a  break; 
all  things  graduate  the  one  into  the  other; 
all  things  are  continuous.  Man  for  the  ^ake 
of  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  establishes 
divisions,  but  they  exist  only  in  the  imagina- 


288       THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

tion.  We  have  chemistry,  geology,  astron- 
omy, mathematics,  physics  and  metaphysics, 
science  and  art,  theory  and  practice,  matter 
and  force,  motion  and  rest,  dayHght  and  dark- 
ness, but  no  man  can  mark  out  the  boundar- 
ies between  them.  This  great  law  of  contin- 
uity, one  of  the  ripe  fruits  of  experience, 
would  demand  that  there  should  be  no  break 
between  the  human  and  the  spiritual,  but  that 
the  one  should  be  continuous  with  the  other; 
and  this  reasonable  condition  we  find  satis- 
fied to  the  fullest  extent  by  the  scriptural 
teachings.  Not  only  is  entrance  into  the 
heavenly  kingdom  found  through  the  human 
kingdom,  but  the  powers  of  God  manifested 
in  the  signs,  works  and  wonders  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, when  found  superior  to,  are  intimately 
connected  and  associated  with  the  ordinary 
powers  of  nature  as  we  know  them.  Christ 
came  not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfill,  to  go  beyond 
the  known  indeed,  but  still  in  harmony  with 
it. 

The  Scriptures  teach  also  that  which  we 
have  noted  to  be  in  accord  with  the  highest 
experience,  viz.,  the  necessity  of  depending 
upon  the  experience,  the  testimony  of  others, 
as  well  as  ourselves.  What  progress  would 
science  ever  have  made  had  no  one  ever  been 
willing   to    depend    upon    the    statements    of 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    289 

others'  experiences,  or  rely  upon  the  resuUs 
worked  out  by  another  mind.  Planets,  stars, 
comets,  nebulae,  upon  which  have  depended 
great  results,  have  been  taken  upon  the  faith 
of  a  very  few  astronomical  observers;  chem- 
ical analysis  depends  upon  a  sensitiveness  of 
sight  and  smell  possessed  only  by  trained  ob- 
servers, yet  their  statements  are  accepted  even 
to  the  point  of  life  and  death;  the  strange  tales 
of  travelers  are  proverbial,  yet  they  have  been 
none  the  less  true;  musical  harmonies  and 
discords  are  none  the  less  real  because  not 
discoverable  by  all  people,  but  the  statements 
of  those  discerning  them  are  not  disbelieved, 
even  by  those  who  have  never  been  able  to 
hear  them.  How  unreasonable,  how  con- 
trary to  and  out  of  harmony  with  universal 
experience  is  it,  therefore,  for  one  to  deny  the 
reality  of  knowledge  and  experience,  asserted 
to  have  been  possessed  by  an  innumerable 
host  of  most  competent  and  truthful  witnesses, 
because  these  experiences  are  not  within 
the  knowledge  of  all.  It  were  the  part  of 
reason  and  of  wisdom  not  to  deny  the  reality 
of  so-called  Christian  experience  simply  be- 
cause it  is  not  yet  a  matter  of  personal  ex- 
perience with  all  men. 

But  after  all  the  keystone  of  the  arch  of 
human  experience,  the  one  great  unvarying 

19 


290        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

reliance  in  all  human  conduct,  is  the  uniform- 
ity of  the  laws  of  nature.  Consciously  or 
unconsciously,  every  act  and  thought  in  the 
lives  of  men,  be  they  peasants  or  princes,  ig- 
norant or  learned,  savage  or  civilized,  is  gov- 
erned by  reliance  upon  uniformity  of  law. 
So  firmly  has  this  reliance  upon  the  uniform- 
ity of  the  laws  of  nature  been  fixed  in  our 
natures,  by  the  cumulative  experience  of  hun- 
dreds of  generations  of  men,  that  anything 
contrary  to  it,  or  seemingly  so,  has  the  high- 
est possible  warrant  of  unreasonableness 
which  can  be  furnished  to  our  minds.  The 
unprejudiced  examiner  will  therefore  apply 
this  test  of  the  reasonable  to  the  teachings  of 
the  Scriptures  with  no  little  anxiety,  and  will 
arise  from  the  consideration  of  it  with  a  light 
heart  when  he  discovers  that  only  the  misin- 
terpretations of  unwise  friends  and  vicious 
foes  have  found  anything  contrary  to  this 
great  principle  of  the  uniformity  of  law  in  the 
Scriptures. 

A  volume  would  need  to  be  written  to  show 
the  fallacy  of  every  one  of  these  misinterpre- 
tations, but  the  general  principle  that  God 
governs  by  fixed  laws  and  not  by  caprice  is 
so  plainly  set  forth  in  the  Scriptures  that  even 
he  who  runs  may  read,  if  he  be  only  content 
to  read  the  book  as  a  whole  and  not  pin  his 


THE  REVELATION  OF  LIFE    291 

opinion  to  isolated  texts.  For  the  purposes 
of  the  present  argument  it  is  only  intended  to 
refer  to  that  one  great  doctrine  which  runs 
through  the  whole  Bible,  but  is  particularly 
enforced  by  Christ  and  his  apostles,  viz.,  that 
there  is  only  one  narrow  unvarying  way  of 
life,  and  that  failure  to  follow  it,  whatever  be 
the  excuses,  means  death.  This  doctrine  of 
the  Scriptures  is  in  exact  conformity  with  the 
trust  in  the  uniformity  of  law  grounded  in 
experience.  That  which  makes  man's  ordi- 
nary life  possible,  obedience  to  law,  is  found 
to  be  the  principle  involved  in  the  teaching 
of  Christ  concerning  the  new  life.  In  things 
natural  man  does  not  think  it  reasonable  to 
disobey  the  self-announced  laws  of  the  uni- 
verse because  he  cannot  comprehend  them. 
It  is  deemed  in  the  highest  degree  reasonable 
for  one  to  address  himself  diligently  to  the 
discovery  of  the  laws  of  the  infinitely  great 
and  varied  forces  in  activity  about  him,  and 
then  with  care  to  adjust  his  conduct  in  con- 
formity with  them.  Therefore  does  it  become 
man  as  a  reasonable  creature  to  give  diligence 
to  the  search  after  the  truth  concerning  the 
laws  of  human  death  and  spiritual  life,  and 
then  above  all  things  else  to  give  heed  that  he 
obeys  them.  If  it  be  claimed  by  responsible 
witnesses   that   there   is   evidence   of   the   life 


292        THE  MYSTERY  OF  LIFE 

eternal,  and  that  the  law  regarding  it  is  capa- 
ble of  ascertainment,  the  gravity  of  the  issue 
should  allow  none  but  a  fool  to  refrain  from 
an  examination  of  the  matter.  And  one 
should  be  vastly  encouraged  in  the  examina- 
tion by  finding  that  eternal  life  is  not  the  re- 
sult of  caprice,  is  not  a  matter  of  sentiment, 
but  depends  upon  inexorable,  unvarying  laws. 
Christ  came  into  the  world  not  to  judge, 
not  to  distribute  rewards  and  punishments, 
as  these  are  ordinarily  understood,  but  to 
reveal  the  law  of  life.  Those  who,  believ- 
ing in  him,  follow  his  revelation  and  do  his 
will,  shall  find  themselves  in  the  way  of  eter- 
nal life  and  receive  it.  Those  who  believe 
him  not,  and  therefore  heed  him  not,  will 
know  neither  of  the  life  nor  the  way  to  it. 
These  will  need  no  special  judgment;  the 
infinite,  inscrutable,  inexorable  laws  of  the 
universe,  both  the  seen  and  the  unseen,  will 
work  out  their  swift  and  sure  destruction. 
This  again  is  in  harmony  with  the  very  funda- 
mental teaching  of  experience  and  is  reason- 
able. So  far  from  religion,  then,  being  un- 
reasonable, it  is  only  the  one  lacking  reason 
who  rejects  the  revelation  of  life  and  immor- 
tality and  says  in  his  heart  there  is  no  God. 


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